Maison Blanche Revisited
by IMissAremid
Summary: Samantha Brady Roberts is spending her honeymoon in an old New Orleans mansion after finally marrying the man of her dreams. Or has she? E.J. Wells may have another thing to say about that. Also featuring Tony, Kate, Lucas, Lexie, Anna, Roman and more.
1. Chapter 1

Time: May 2007

Location: New Orleans mansion in disrepair

Chapter 1

This was not the honeymoon Samantha Brady-Roberts had been dreaming of these past 15 years. After ten tries, she finally got her wedding to the man of her dreams. Or so she thought.

Yet as she laid in the dark tossing and turning on a rumpled air mattress, next to her snoring husband, surrounded by paint cans and listening to the night rain fall on the windowpane, Sami wondered just why she agreed to her wedding planner's idea that she celebrate her wedding with this bizarre remodeling project to rebuild an old mansion of some old crazy man who had left the place after Hurricane Katrina.

Sami decided she would get herself a glass of water and see if that would help soothe the uneasy feeling she had about this place. As she walked down the grand staircase to the kitchen clutching her stomach she thought back on her wedding humiliation and the way she slugged E.J. She also thought about Lucas's decision to stand by her. Neither moment was as satisfying as she thought it would be. But before she could consider why, a shadowy figure crept up behind her.

Sami went to scream but the man covered her mouth before she could let out a sound.

"Samantha, you really need to get out of this place," a familiar voice said, slowly removing his cupped hand from her lips.

"No, E.J., I think it's YOU who needs to get out of this place. What are you doing here? This is my honeymoon. Lucas is my husband. He found out the truth and he stood by me. He loves me. You're just going to have to deal with it," Sami said.

"Ah yes, I will have to deal with that, darling, but before we can take care of that we need to get you out of this dreary place and into accommodations more befitting a woman... in your condition."

"My condition?" Sami says with an incredulous glare. "And what are you kidnapping me now? Can't you Dimeras come up with something original FOR ONCE?"

"Listen, Samantha. I am not trying to kidnap you. I am not here to scare you or to hurt you. I am trying to warn you. I… I can't explain it all right now. But just promise me that you'll convince Lucas in the morning to give up this home makeover business and just eh… take up somewhere in New Orleans a little more fun, more luxurious, more romantic for the rest of your time here."

"Promise YOU? Pfft. Why? Is it too inconvenient for you to stalk us out here in the middle of nowhere so you can sabotage our honeymoon just like you did our reception?"

"No… I… I was afraid this would happen." E.J. turns away from Sami. "I can't protect you, can I?"

Sami pulled him back into her gaze.

"No. You can't. And I am not interested in your protection. I have LUCAS to protect me."

E.J. laughed.

"You mean the man you've had me rescue from near-death situations twice in the past twelve months, my dear? Sadly, if you refuse my help, I think you… and our baby… are alone on this one."

Sami stared intently at E.J.'s face for several seconds trying to discern the hidden meaning behind his cryptic warning until she was distracted by the sound of what she thought was a man's laughter.

Chapter 2

"Sadly, if you refuse my help, I think you… and our baby… are alone on this one," E.J. whispered with regret as he clutched her shoulders with his hands.

Sami stared intently at E.J.'s face for several seconds trying to discern the hidden meaning behind his cryptic warning until she was distracted by the sound of what she thought was a man's laughter.

"Did you hear that?" Sami asked.

"Hear what, darling?" E.J. said, clearly perplexed.

"It sounded like… it… well… nothing. I… just want you to leave. Leave me alone. Let me have this one moment of happiness without you and these games and my secrets getting in the way of it."

"Oh, so should we wake Lucas then and let him know I'm here? Oh Lucas! LOOOOOO-CUSSS!" E.J. calls up the stairs.

"What are you DOING? Please just get OUT of here before he sees you!" Sami scolded. 

E.J. laughed and grasped her left hand.

"Good to see married life hasn't changed you too much, my dear," E.J. said before kissing her ring finger.

"Ugh. Just GO!"

E.J. obliged and shut the front door behind him just as bleary-eyed Lucas appeared at the top of the staircase.

"Was someone here just now? Was E.J. here?!" Lucas shouted.

"What? What are you talking about?" Sami said biting her lip.

"There was a man calling my name. I'm pretty sure he had a British accent."

"Well, as you can see, no one is here but me. I was getting a glass of water. Honey, go back to bed. You must have been dreaming."

"Well… OK… I'll be waiting for you."

"OK. I'll be right there."

Lucas headed back to bed. Sami sighed and rubbed her stomach.

"Oh what are we going to do?" she whispers to the baby growing inside her. "I thought if I married Lucas, if I got Lucas to be my husband then we'd be home free, but this wedding didn't really solve anything, did it?"

Sami headed toward the kitchen to get her water when something caught her eye and caused her to stop in front of the bookcase. She noticed an old copy of "Gone with the Wind" on the bookshelf and picked it up.

"Wow. A copy from the original printing."

Sami leafed through the pages.

"And in such good condition. I'd love to take some time to read this again. I wonder if the owner would mind if I borrowed this."

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

"Tony!"

Chapter 3

"Tony!" Sami exclaimed before covering her mouth in shock.

"Sami. Did you miss me?" Tony said with a smile.

"How did you...? What... what are you doing here? I thought you were in jail!" Sami said before contemplating just how the night could get worse.

"Oh I was. Thanks to YOU, of course. But I've paid my debt to society and am a free man now," Tony said while fishing around in the inside of his suit coat pocket.

"What do you want from me? Tony, you have to know, I'm sooo sorry for everything. I promise I won't tell anyone I saw you..."

Tony finally retrieves a black handgun from the inside of his coat and brandishes it.

" No, you won't tell anyone you saw me. And I agree you'll soon be quite sorry for every single trick and scheme and lie and backstab you've ever done."

"Tony, no! You can't do this."

"Can't I?" Tony said grinning from ear to ear.

"No. You can't," said a male voice, belonging to a man who walked in the mansion through the front door to Sami and Tony's surprise.

"This is no concern of yours, brother. In fact, if you had taken care of business, I wouldn't have to be cleaning up this mess of yours."

"E.J., what is he talking about? Was this whole thing just some scheme of yours and Tony's to get back at me for helping put Tony behind bars? Ugh. I think I'm going to be sick. I can't believe I..." Sami whispered with regret.

"You can't believe what, Samantha?" E.J. asked, his eyes squinting to try to see the truth Sami tried so hard to conceal.

"I can't believe I... ever thought you were my friend is all," Sami said throwing her hands in the air. "You know I shouldn't be surprised that you and Tony were working together all this time."

With that, Tony broke out into a fit of laughter.

"Sami, you must know that none of this has turned out as I intended." E.J. said before turning toward Tony. "Listen, Tony, there must be another way to handle this. Let me take care of this."

"Ha! Because you've done such a spectacular job taking care of this so far."

"Tony, I won't let you harm Samantha." E.J. said stepping in front of a frightened Sami.

"Won't let me, eh? That's funny. Because you know as well as I do that I have no intention of harming Samantha." Tony said to a defiant-looking E.J. and a confused Sami.

Chapter 4

"Tony, I won't let you harm Samantha." E.J. said stepping in front of a frightened Sami.

"Won't let me, eh? That's funny. Because you know as well as I do that I have no intention of harming Samantha." Tony said to a defiant-looking E.J. and a confused Sami.

"Then just what is your intention?" Sami asked even though she didn't really want to know.

"Oh hasn't E.J. told you?" Tony said grinning. "Well, you see, it's quite simple, Sami. That baby you're carrying is going to save our father's life."

"STEFANO? What do you mean my baby will save Stefano Dimera? How is that even possible?" Sami said as E.J. tried to put his hand on her shoulder to console her. She brushed it away.

"Well, I don't want to confuse you any more than I have to with all the scientific details, but once you give birth to this baby, its umbilical cord blood will be collected and we will finally be able to restore Father's health."

"Sami, I'm sorry..." E.J. said before Sami interrupted.

"I don't care. I won't let you do this. I won't let you use my baby to save that monster!" Sami said as she angrily lurched toward Tony. "When this baby is born I'm having the umbilical cord blood, or whatever it is you're trying to get from me, destroyed so that you can never get to it."

"That's why I'm going to be keeping an eye on you for the remainder of the pregnancy, Sami." Tony said, gesturing with the gun to remind Sami she had little choice in the matter.

"Tony, just put the gun away. Let's talk," E.J. said trying to play peacemaker.

"Talk? Yes, let's talk, brother. Let's talk about how you left me in prison and I had to rely on Celeste to get me out of jail. Let's talk about how your tenure as CEO at Mythic has been an utter failure and your pathetic company is bleeding this family dry. Let's talk about how miserably you've failed at controlling Steve Johnson, finding Shawn Brady and when the moment of truth came, you were too much of a coward to shoot John Black."

Sami is shocked. Tony continues as his eyes turn from E.J. to Sami.

"And why have you failed at all these simple tasks? Because you were too busy chasing after some girl. Some girl who's married to someone else and detests you with every fiber of her being." Tony laughs.

Sami looks at E.J.'s face and senses the hurt in his eyes. She reaches out to express her sympathy, before realizing what she was doing and pulls her hand back. E.J.'s lip stiffens as he tries to regain his pride.

"Regardless, I won't let you hold Sami captive. She will need to see a doctor during the pregnancy. Let's work out some other solution."

"You know, E.J. I'm getting quite tired and I'm sure FATHER is getting quite tired of the way you seem to have your loyalties a bit mixed up these days," Tony said with a frown. "Your mistakes have proven too costly to this family already for me to allow you to jeopardize this now."

"What does that mean?" EJ asked.

"It means that you are going to be joining Samantha in captivity. We can't have you trying to play hero, can we? Besides it will be easier for me to clean up your messes without you around to make more of them." Tony smirked.

"Now Sami," Tony said pulling out a notepad and pen from a desk drawer. 'I need your help to ensure that no one goes looking for the two of you."

"How is a piece of paper going to accomplish that?" Sami asked incredulously.

"Well, you see, Sami, you're going to write a letter informing your new husband that you have decided to run away with my brother, here, after realizing your true feelings for him and learning the baby you are carrying is a Dimera."

"But we don't even know this baby is a Dimera. E.J.?"

"Actually, we do know, Sami," E.J. said

"What?!" Sami asked, exasperated.

"During your hospital stay. When you thought you were dying. Well a test was done. And I am the father of your baby. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before the wedding."

"But why? You knew before the wedding and you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't think you'd believe me, Samantha. And you were so certain that Lucas wouldn't forgive you when the truth came out that I thought... well... there's nothing I can do about that now."

"Are you two finished yet?" an impatient Tony asked. "OK, good. Now start writing. And make it convincing. We can't have that little weasel of a former associate of mine snooping around where he doesn't belong. He could be waking up soon."

Sami sits down to write the note while Tony watches over her shoulder. Sami starts to cry.

"Oh, what now?" Tony sighs.

"I don't know what it is you want me to write, Tony. I've never even dumped anyone before let alone been the one to leave one of my husbands."

Sami sets down the pen and paper and sobs into her hands.

"Here, Samantha." E.J. sits down next to Sami and hands her his handkerchief. "Can I help you?"

Sami looks at him.

"I guess." Sami says through a sniffly nose. She picks up the pen and paper again.

"OK, Samantha, this is what you write: _Dear Lucas, I am so sorry that I am unable to tell you this in person but there is something that you must know, something that means that we can never be together_."

"Oh you're just loving this, aren't you, EJ?" Sami glares, quickly recovered from her moment of weakness.

"Well, I'd be lying if I hadn't fantasized about a similar scenario, my dear, although it never involved my brother pointing a gun at us."

Tony grins and waves the gun at them in salute.

"Anyway, back to the letter, Samantha," E.J. says, then dictates. "_Lucas, it was wrong of me to keep the fact that E.J. and I were together the night this baby was conceived a secret from you all this time. I really thought you would leave me if you knew and that is why I waited all those months and until after the wedding to tell you. But you see, when the truth came out and you did stand by me, I was actually disappointed_."

"That's not true, E.J. No matter how much you wish it was," Sami says defensively.

"I know, darling. I know." E.J. sighs.

"Can we wrap this up soon? Lucas could wake up at any moment and if he does we'll have to shoot him." Tony warns.

"Well, in that case..." E.J. says, before Sami punches his shoulder.

Sami decides to finish the note herself. She reads aloud: "_You see, I wanted you to leave me so that I would finally be free to be with E.J. without feeling like I was letting down you and Will and all of my family. But I can't keep lying to myself or to this baby, which I have known all along was E.J.'s and not yours_."

Sami starts to tear up. E.J. looks at her sorrowfully.

"_Please understand that I didn't want to hurt you and even though I know that you and Will can never forgive me for this, know that I love you both. Just not enough for me to stay in this marriage when I can't give you the kind of love you deserve and when I can't deny my true feelings for E.J. Wells. Good bye. Love, Sami_"

Sami cries some more. E.J. doesn't know whether to try to console her or let her be.

"Finally," Tony says.

"So where are you taking us?" Sami asks.

"Taking you? Why you're already here?" Tony laughs.

"What?" 

"Welcome to Maison Blanche, Samantha." E.J. says.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 5

"So where are you taking us?" Sami asked.

"Taking you? Why you're already here?" Tony laughed.

"What?" 

"Welcome to Maison Blanche, Samantha." E.J. said.

A look of horror swept across Sami's face.

"Did you say Maison Blanche?" Sami asked in disbelief. "The place where Stefano kept my mother and John and Hope hostage all those years ago? I thought that place burned to the ground!"

"Oh, it did," Tony assured her. "But I think you're well aware of how us Dimeras always seem to find a way to rise from the ashes. Didn't my brother teach you about that?"

Tony flashes a wicked grin. E.J. is not amused.

"Obviously this isn't the original Maison Blanche, but after the other one burned to the ground Father picked this place up and renovated it to look as much like the original as possible, with a few modifications of course, as you'll now soon find out. You should have seen the house before the flood and wind ravaged it. Well, enough reminiscing. Into the fireplace you go. Chop chop." Tony still holding his gun, motions for them to move.

"Huh?" Sami asked.

"Go ahead. Show her E.J." Tony sneered.

Sami furrows her brow in confusion and E.J. winces as he pulls the lever opening up the fireplace to reveal a secret passage. He takes her hand and they go inside while Tony places Sami's note on the desk and admires himself and his plan.

"I'm so sorry for this, Samantha," E.J. says as they head into the mysterious room. "I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Sami stares at E.J. fearfully but says nothing.

Tony hears rustling upstairs and tells them they need to get a move on. He follows them into the secret passage and we see the fireplace slide back into place.

Just seconds later Lucas is back at the top of the stairs.

"Sami? Sami?!" Lucas calls before muttering to himself. "Where the hell are you?"

Lucas walks down the stairs. He walks through the living room and past the copy of Gone With The Wind left out lying on the coffee table. He doesn't notice it's been moved from the shelf. He walks into the kitchen but quickly comes back out.

"Sami, where are you?" Lucas wonders as he turns around the room until his eyes spy the note Tony has left for him.

He pauses for a moment as if he is not sure whether he wants to read it then walks forward.

He picks up the note and reads aloud:

Dear Lucas, I am so sorry that I am unable to tell you this in person but there is something that you must know, something that means that we can never be together.

"Sami, no. What have you done?"

Lucas, it was wrong of me to keep the fact that E.J. and I were together the night this baby was conceived a secret from you all this time. I really thought you would leave me if you knew and that is why I waited all those months and until after the wedding to tell you. But you see, when the truth came out and you did stand by me, I was actually disappointed.

"How can she say this, now, after all we've been through?"

You see, I wanted you to leave me so that I would finally be free to be with E.J. without feeling like I was letting down you and Will and all of my family. But I can't keep lying to myself or to this baby, which I have known all along was E.J.'s and not yours.

"How can you be so heartless, Sami? String both of us along this way, marry me when you know the child isn't mine and then run off with him?" Lucas sobs.

Please understand that I didn't want to hurt you and even though I know that you and Will can never forgive me for this, know that I love you both. Just not enough for me to stay in this marriage when I can't give you the kind of love you deserve and when I can't deny my true feelings for E.J. Wells. Good bye. Love, Sami

"Love? Love, Sami? You don't know what the meaning of the word is." Lucas says before crumpling the note in his fist.

"That's it. I can't take it anymore. I've tried to put on a brave face. Tried to let her assure me nothing was wrong. I tried to be trusting. I gave everything of myself. I apologized and asked for her forgiveness. I gave her the perfect wedding she always wanted. I got my mom to stay out of our lives. And... And she still does this?" Lucas breaks down for a minute and then he turns to rage sliding everything on the desk onto the floor. "THAT BITCH!"

Lucas pauses for a moment to look around the room and stops to think.

"Dammit. I need a drink," he says. Lucas grabs his coat and car keys and heads out the front door.

Chapter 6

"I'm so sorry for this, Samantha," E.J. said as the two of them headed into the mysterious room with him holding her hand. "I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Sami stared at E.J. fearfully but said nothing.

Behind them, Tony was shoving them forward in the darkness warning of rustling upstairs.

Sami gasped as she heard the fireplace door close behind them and then started to scream.

"LUCAS! LUCAS I'm in... hgurhghgh!" Sami's speech was garbled by the hairy tan hand covering her mouth.

"Now, Sami, Lucas cannot hear you through this wall. It's best if you cooperate with us, but it's your choice. We can do this the hard way or the easy way," Tony warned. "Which do you prefer?"

A protective instinct overcame E.J. as he ripped his brother's arm off Sami and put his large hands on her shoulders and bent his tall frame downward to face her eye to eye.

"Samantha, listen to me." E.J. said. "No one is going to harm you. Just keep quiet for now and you will be fine. I will see to it that nothing happens to you or our child."

Sami nodded as the three of them walked through a dark brick passageway yellowed with the light from a candle carried by Tony in his left hand. His other hand was pressed against his coat pocket waiting to remove his gun should the weapon again become necessary.

"Now, brother, it's not really fair to Sami here to make promises you don't know you can keep, is it? Don't want to be giving her any false hope." Tony laughed.

"Don't listen to him, Samantha, darling. When I have a chance to speak to my father I'll..." E.J. said before Tony interrupted.

"You'll what?" Tony asked. "Father finally got fed up with your incompetence and placed me in charge of the family. And now YOU will know what it's like to rot in captivity the way I toiled behind bars for years without my brother lifting a finger to help."

"Tony... you can't," E.J. pleaded. "There is so much to be done with Steve and Mythic and well everything Father has planned."

Sami's eyes darted between the two men as she tried to make sense of their schemes.

"You have had your chance to take care of all that, brother. And you failed." Tony said. "I will take over those matters when I return to Salem. But don't worry. I am leaving you in the best care possible."

Tony sneered as he said those last words and the three of them walked toward a closed door that opened to reveal a short, stupid-looking fool, and a balding old man in a white lab coat.

"Hello, Bart. Hello, Rolfe. I am placing these two in your custody until Samantha's baby is born," Tony said. "I assume you know what to do with them."

Tony had assumed too much as Bart did not even know if he was supposed to tie his shoes without someone telling him.

"Hey boss, if you don't mind me asking, what's E.J. doing here? I thought you said we were just supposed to keep an eye on Blondie, not your brother." Bart questioned with a curiosity that annoyed Tony.

"Yes, well that was the plan, initally," Tony said before turning to glare at E.J., "until E.J. decided he had another plan in mind for Samantha."

Sami turned to stare at E.J. to see if it was true. Her instincts told her it was.

"Father is not going to approve of this, Tony," E.J. insisted. " Bart, Rolfe, you know that's true. Tony has gone power-hungry since he's been back. Just stop this nonsense and let Samantha and I go and everyone will get what they want."

"Everyone will get what they want? HA!" Tony snickered. 'What I want is for you to suffer."

Tony motioned with his gun while Bart and Rolfe gathered some rope and the three of them pushed Sami and EJ together back-to-back and tied them together.

"Now, I have some business to attend to so I hope you don't mind me leaving," Tony said with a smile before exiting the room.

The fate that had befallen Sami suddenly rushed over her at once and she was filled with questions.

"Wait! Tony! What will we do for food? Where will we sleep? You can't keep us locked up forever, can you?" Sami asked.

"No, Sami, I can't keep you locked up in this room forever," Tony smiled walking across the room. "But for tonight this is where you'll stay."

Tony took his candle and lit a candleabra revealing a wash basin and twin bed in the corner of the room that had previously been hidden by the darkness. He walked back toward the doorway.

"Bart, I am trusting you to stand guard outside this room. Don't fail me. And Rolf, I hope you will walk with me out to the car so we can talk over these medical reports," Tony said, ignoring his prisoners, before turning back to get another look at the two of them helpless and struggling against each other.

Tony laughed.

"Now I think I'll leave you two alone. Don't thank me too profusely, little brother," Tony said before exiting, slamming the door shut behind him and turning the lock.

click

Chapter 7

"Bart, I am trusting you to stand guard outside this room. Don't fail me. And Rolf, I hope you will walk with me out to the car so we can talk over these medical reports," Tony said, ignoring his prisoners, before turning back to get another look at the two of them helpless and struggling against each other.

Tony laughed.

"Now I think I'll leave you two alone. Don't thank me too profusely, little brother," Tony said before exiting, slamming the door shut behind him and turning the lock.

click

"Oh, E.J., look what you've got me into now," Sami said with exasperation as she squirmed against the ropes binding them together.

"Just relax, Samantha," E.J. said.

"Relax?" Sami asked, no longer struggling violently against the rope while E.J. continued methodically working to loosen its grip on them. "How can I relax knowing that I'm locked up here WITH YOU, when I know that my baby... our baby... is going to be used to save Stefano and that Lucas thinks that I ran off and left him and Will alone."

Sami burst into tears. E.J. wished he had an arm free to reach for his handkerchief and extend it to her.

"Sweetheart, if Lucas really loves you, as much as it pains me to admit it, he'll know that you would never willingly abandon him to run away with me. He'll know that you would never cheat on the person you truly loved, the person you married, and that you are the most fiercely loyal and protective lover a man could ever wish to have," E.J. said with devotion while Sami, with her back turned toward him, was still self-conscious about the way she was blushing.

"Samantha, if Lucas loves you, he'll know that note is a fake and come back for you and believe that you didn't run away with me."

"Yeah, right." Sami says bitterly, before mumbling, "I almost don't believe it myself."

"You almost don't believe it yourself? What do you...?"

"Oh, I didn't mean to get your hopes up E.J.," Sami says remembering herself and allowing her ice-covered heart toward him to harden once again after its brief thaw. "I just almost don't believe this whole thing myself because I've always been such a screwup and here FOR ONCE I'm in this mess and it's not my fault!"

"No, darling. It's not your fault," E.J. said wistfully. "It's mine."

"Yours?" Sami questioned. "But I heard the way Tony talked to you. It sounds like you're in as much trouble as I am right now."

"More actually," E.J. said taking a moment to laugh at his own misfortune.

"What do you mean?" Sami asked not realizing she sounded truly concerned.

"Well, you see, Samantha, it's my fault that I thought I could make you love me, even after all that happened. I wasn't supposed to come back to Salem from Mexico originally but I begged Father to let me do it. Stefano wanted me to plant the Dimera seed and kidnap the mother before the child was born, but I thought once you were pregnant with my child I could convince you to be with me willingly and we could raise our child together as Dimeras, both of us," E.J. said. "That was the only way I could sell Father on the pairing."

"You mean, us being together, truly together, was your idea? Not Stefano's? But the baby and the rape..." Sami said before E.J. cut her off.

"Darling, for the last time, it was NOT rape! Now I know I am a scoundrel and a cad and maybe even the monster you say I am, but I am NOT a rapist!" E.J. said indignantly.

"Then what do you call what happened that night if not rape, huh?"

"Oh, I know that night in Lexie's car wasn't as exhiliaratingly blissful for you as it was for me. I had made you an indecent proposal, Samantha," E.J. admitted. "And used emotional blackmail to get you to accept it. It was sexual extortion. Sextortion. Hmmm I think I just coined a new word, eh?"

"Just shut up already. Fine, it was SEXTORTION and not rape. But that doesn't change what a bastard you've been to me all these months."

"That is true, darling. I have been somewhat of a bastard, haven't I." E.J. said with a twinkle in his eye and a sly, half-grin. "But the truth is that's the only way I know how to cope with this, Samantha. I never meant to fall in love with you. I certainly wasn't ever supposed to have this happen. I mean I've spent my whole life learning how to avoid getting too emotionally attached to people, and when I fell for you last summer and I found that hold that Lucas and Will had over you and I couldn't have you all to myself, well I... I... I didn't know how to handle you rejecting me."

"Me rejecting you! As I seem to recall it, you made me choose. You made me choose between you and my son!"

"And if I could undo any one of the thousands of terrible things I've done in my miserable life, it would be that night. But I didn't mean for you to think that was really a choice between your son and me. I just wanted you to stop letting Lucas use Will to get what he wanted from you, to stop you from getting what you wanted. I didn't think it fair for him to use your sense of obligation to deny your true passion."

"My true passion?" Sami scoffed. "Oh, you mean, you."

"Yeah, I mean me. We were passionate once, weren't we, my dear?" E.J. asked.

The two of them flashback to last summer. Watch an EJAMI montage here to get a sense of what I'm talking about Make sure it includes the look they give each other when E.J. feeds her oysters, the dance in the abandoned house, the kiss at the bar, the tango on the pier, etc.

"Yeah, I did care passionately about you E.J. Way more than I ever realized or admitted. But that passion died when I found out the police were after you for all the horrible things happening to my family and then there was Kate's monogrammed bra stuffed in the cushions of your sofa. And then... and then I find out you were a Dimera and Stefano's son!"

"Look, I'm sorry you were hurt by me lying about who I was, but I am NOT sorry I did it because if I had been upfront with you about who I was - all those magical, real, romantic moments we shared last summer wouldn't have happened."

"Magical? Real? Romantic moments? So you're telling me that all that wasn't just playacting in your twisted plant the Dimera seed in Sami game?"

"Samantha, it was real. I never was supposed to fall in love with you. And now that I have, it will probably cost me everything." E.J. told her, still quietly and calmly working with the rope behind his back.

"I'm sorry but how am I supposed to believe you loved me the way you've treated me these past several months. Humiliating me at my wedding. Nearly causing me a nervous breakdown with all these games. Making me think you were going to kill me at the hospital!"

"Samantha, I thought if I punished you, tormented you the way you had my heart, used Kate to make you jealous... I thought if I did all of these things it could make me stop loving you, maybe even hate you, but it's really just made me hate myself."

Sami was speechless. And suddenly E.J.'s hands were free from the rope.

Chapter 8

"Samantha, I thought if I punished you, tormented you the way you had my heart, used Kate to make you jealous... I thought if I did all of these things it could make me stop loving you, maybe even hate you," E.J. said, "but it's really just made me hate myself."

Sami was speechless. And suddenly E.J.'s hands were free from the rope.

Sami was too caught up considering his words to notice.

"Oh so you hate yourself now, do you?" Sami said with a scowl. "Well that makes two of us."

E.J. then let the rope around his hands slide to the floor and stepped around Sami to face her, bending down and cupping his newly freed hands around her face.

"Oh well in that case, shall I let you find your own way out of here, sweetheart?" E.J. asked her as he leaned in to give her a soft, swift kiss on the lips.

Normally, had Sami's hands been free, she would've tried to slap him, but Sami was too excited in that moment about the prospect of freedom to scold him. E.J. was pleasantly surprised by her reaction as he had been accustomed to her constantly rejecting his advances and expected no different this time.

"E.J., how did you do that?!" Sami marveled at his ability to free himself. "Well, don't just stand there! UNTIE ME NOW!"

"Shhhhh, Sami" E.J. said placing his right index finger over her lips. "You don't want Bart to hear you, do you?"

"Well, no. But what do you have in mind?" Sami wondered.

"Patience, my dear," E.J. whispered as he walked across the room and pressed his ear up against the door to hear Bart muttering to himself as he took swigs from a bottle of whiskey. Just as E.J. was about to step back toward Sami and begin plotting his course for escape, his sinuses got the best of him and he was unable to stifle a loud sneeze. "ACH-OOO!"

"Bless you," Bart said from his perch against the door in the hallway. "Hey, wait a second..."

E.J. panicked as he realized Bart had heard him.

"Bart is coming. Quick, Samantha. Blow out the candles!" E.J. whispered.

Sami obliged and bit her lip as E.J. vanished from her sight and the door opened.

Bart entered carrying a lantern in one hand and a pistol in the other. He saw the ropes around Sami on the floor and walked toward her.

"Hey, Blondie. What gives? Tell me where your boyfriend went."

E.J. held his breath anticipating what Sami would tell him.

"My boyfriend? Ha! Did you forget I'm married to Lucas? When I told E.J. I wouldn't run away with him that bastard escaped and left me here to die. See?" Sami said, turning her body to the side to show the ropes still tight around her wrists. "I swear E.J. better hope you are the ones to find him because if I get my hands on him, I'll..."

CRASH Bart collapsed to the floor.

Sami was astonished to see E.J. standing over him holding the handle of the broken whiskey bottle. He dropped it and walked toward her.

"Are you OK? You aren't hurt are you?" E.J. asked caressing her face with his right hand and staring deep into her eyes in a way that made her breath heavy and face flushed. "I must say I get more and more impressed with you every day I spend with you, Samantha. You are quite possibly the coolest liar I've met."

Suddenly she remembered her revulsion toward his advances and quickly turned her head away from his gaze.

"How about you save the compliments for when we're both free of this place, all right? Now untie me."

E.J. quickly obliged her request and handed her the lantern while he grabbed Bart's gun.

"Samantha, just follow me and I'll get us out of here, all right." E.J. said as he stepped out toward the hallway scanning his surroundings with his right arm outstretched holding the gun and ready to fire on any person who got in their way. Sami attached herself to his left arm and followed closely behind.

They walked back toward the fireplace passage they had entered earlier and said nothing but E.J. couldn't help but notice how tightly Samantha clung to him. How good it felt to have Samantha depending on him once again as her protector. The unspoken trust of that embrace he felt the same way when he tried to comfort her from the blackmail notes she received the previous summer.

"We're almost home free, my dear," E.J. said as he bent down to kiss her forehead and Sami smiled at him as he reached to press the button that would allow their freedom. 

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," said a man with a familiar and menacing accent.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 9

Lucas held back tears as he drove away from Maison Blanche in search of a watering hole where he could drown his sorrows.

"How could she do this?" he said to himself, pounding the top of the steering wheel with his hands. "After everything we've been through! She just threw it all away for that limey bastard."

Lucas shook his head in disgust.

"Well, that's it, Sami. You chose E.J. so Will and I are going to make a good life for ourselves without you. Never again will I give you the chance to hurt me like this. It's finally, truly over."

Just then Lucas's cell phone rang.

"Oh, just what I need..." he said as he looked down at the phone's caller ID and let it ring several times before finally giving in to the caller's pestering.

"Listen, Mom. I don't really feel like talking right now," he said after picking up the phone. "If you're calling to nag me about Sami then just save your breath because it's over between us. We're over."

"Lucas, what are you talking about?" Kate asked.

"In the middle of the night Sami ran off. She left me. For E.J. I told you how we ran into him the other day snooping around, right? Well I woke up in the middle of the night and found a note downstairs,' Lucas said, his voice quivering. "She said she knew the baby was his all along when shel married me and that the reason she never told me about being with E.J. before the marriage was because she wanted ME to leave HER so she could save face being with him. I only wish I would have left her. Man, I should have hit her in the face with that cake at our wedding. Now if you don't mind I think I see a bar up here and I'm feeling a little thirsty right now."

"Oh, that's awful, Lucas. I'm sorry I can't be there in person to help you get through it," Kate said. "But you know as well as I do that drinking is not the answer. It won't change what happened or end your pain, it will only cover it up temporarily."

"It won't ease my pain? Well like talking to YOU is gonna help. C'mon, mom. Cut the crap. I know you're just dying to say I told you so. I know you couldn't be happier that this happened," Lucas said. "That I'm heartbroken and have failed at marriage once again."

"Lucas, I am truly sorry for the pain she caused and any resentment you feel towards me because I was right, but despite how I feel about Sami, I have to tell you your news couldn't come at a worse time for me, for us," Kate replied.

"What do you mean, mom? How does this news affect you?" Lucas asked angrily. "If you're bummed because that British bum isn't around for you to have your disgusting fling with anymore, well just get over it!"

"No, son, it's not that," Kate said, her voice somewhat bitter due to the unhappy morsel of truth in Lucas's stinging accusation. "The reason I called you was to ask you to get back from that honeymoon of yours as soon as possible so we can pacify the shareholders at Mythic. Someone tipped off the shareholders to the profit skimming in those financial reports you discovered and we need to do some damage control fast or both our lives are over. I've tried calling E.J.'s cell phone about a hundred times to tell him to get his butt back here but his phone is turned off."

"Are you serious, mom?" Lucas asked. "But the only ones who knew about this was us and Billie... and E.J. Damn that, E.J. But why would he want this to get out? You know, no wonder he skipped down when he did. I can't believe Sami fell for his bull. Of course, why should I be surprised?"

"You know, Lucas, if we can prove that he ran off with Sami, then we can pin all this on E.J. and salvage the company," Kate said. "Do you still have the note?"

"Yeah I have the note," Lucas said looking at the crumpled piece of paper in the passenger seat. He sniffed as his upper lip firmed.

"Listen, Mom, I'm gonna head to the airport right now so I can get the first flight back to Salem. I can't wait to help the SEC take this bastard down."

Chapter 10

"We're almost home free, my dear," E.J. said as he bent down to kiss Sami's forehead. She smiled at him as he reached to press the button that would allow their freedom through the fireplace passageway back to the living room of Maison Blanche.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," said a man with a familiar and menacing accent. 

E.J. was filled with regret that he had let himself get distracted by Samantha and allowed the man to sneak up on him while his weapon was at his side.

"Rolf," E.J. said as he turned to face the mad doctor who was holding a gun and a flashlight on the two of them. E.J.'s speech sped up as he tried to formulate a lie to explain his disobedience.

"Thank God, you're here. Samantha just started having these awful pregnancy pains and I didn't know what to do. We were trying to get her out of here to a doctor. Do you think you can treat her?"

Sami's eyes got big as she listened to his lie, then comprehending E.J.'s intentions she doubled over in pain and started moaning.

"Well, I'm sorry," Rolf said, unfooled by Sami's display and E.J.'s words. 'I cannot treat her. I will have to take her to another physician. But until then I'd appreciate it if you set your gun down on the floor."

E.J. complied and he and Sami both put their hands up.

"Now kick the gun to me," Rolf commanded.

E.J. did.

"Now turn and walk back to your room slowly. No sudden moves."

E.J. mouthed "I'm sorry" to Sami but she just frowned as they walked back toward the room.

Rolf immediately noticed the door open, the whiskey stench, broken glass and Bart splayed face down on the floor.

"I see Bart didn't share your concern for Sami's health," Rolf said surveying the damage then turning back to face them. "But don't worry, E.J., I'll see to it that Sami gets the medical attention she needs. She'll even have the chance to see a friendly face."

Sami contemplated the "friendly face" remark with horror. She had few friends in Salem and predicted she would have even less when Lucas brought word back to town that she had run off with E.J. Wells.

Rolf bent down to Bart, who awoke in a daze, and started to shake off his confusion. Bart stood up and glared at E.J. and Sami.

"What are you going to do to me, Rolf?" Sami asked. "I know you need this baby to save Stefano. You can't kill it or me."

"No, I cannot. That's why I'm going to leave you here with Bart," Rolf said, returning Bart's gun to him. "E.J., I want you to come with me."

"Where are you taking him? What are you going to do to E.J.?" Sami shrieked in fear.

"That's no concern of yours," Rolf said. "Come, E.J."

Sami sobbed.

"Sweetheart, don't cry. I can't stand to see you cry. You're not a cryer. You're a fighter," E.J. called to her as Rolf started to push him forward with a gun stuck in his back and E.J. looked over his shoulder. "If I never have the chance to tell you again, sweetheart, I just need you to know now, 'I love you, Samantha Gene Brady, and I always will.'"

"We'll see about that," Rolf whispered in E.J.'s ear before letting lose a loud guffaw.

Sami watched as E.J. was shuttered out of the room. Bart warned her not to try anything else before locking her in the room alone, but Sami couldn't imagine how she might escape, especially now with E.J. gone. Potentially killed. It was as if her spirit was killed.

Sami laid down in the bed and sobbed at the thought of being alone without E.J., as much as she had tried to convince others and him and herself that she hated him. When he was there with her, she may have been angry with him, his jokes may have annoyed her, but they made her forget she was a prisoner of Stefano Dimera and his maniacal whims. Tears streamed down her face as she stared into the darkness and felt the room closing in on her.

But her cries were interrupted by her curiosity a few minutes later as she started noticing a strange humming sound in the distance and a man's voice talking.

She got off the bed and walked over to the door to see if she could hear it better.

"That's strange," Sami said, before gasping in terror as she realized what she was hearing. That buzzing was electricity... and that wasn't a man talking, it was a man screaming.

"Rolf is torturing E.J.!" she whispered.

KNOCK KNOCK

Sami nearly fainted with fear when she heard the thumping at the door while her ear was still pressed against it. Sami backed away into the corner and crawled into the bed awaiting the newest calamity and hiding her face behind her hands.

Sami widened the space between her fingers to watch as the door creaked open to reveal a doctor wearing blue surgeon's scrubs and a mask over their face.

Chapter 11

Sami launched into a hysterical high pitch scream, but the doctor continued lurching toward her until the mystery physician was leaning over her bed.

"Shut up, Sami!" the woman's voice said as the doctor removed her mask. "It's bad enough I have to care for you, the least you can do is not make me go deaf in the process."

"Lexie... I... I thought you were DEAD," Sami said.

"Some days, Sami, I wish I was," Lexie said bitterly as she listened to Sami's stomach with her stethoscope. "Now what is it you needed checked out? Rolf thought you were faking but made me come by just in case."

"Oh, well, you see, I uh, started getting these pregnancy pains you see... but they went away so I think I'm OK now." Sami said quickly.

"Mmm hmmm," Lexie said, clearly not buying it, as she lifted up Sami's sleeve so she could monitor her blood pressure. "That sounds like a patented Sami Brady lie if I've ever heard one. Oh and I have. Lots of them."

"Lexie, well you see, E.J. and I were..."

"Ah yes, you and E.J.," Lexie interrupted. "Remember how I tried to warn him about you? How I told him to drive away from you as fast as he could? But he just couldn't get enough of you even after you married Lucas. It's a shame he didn't listen... I mean, listen to him now."

Lexie paused to allow Sami to hear more of the torturing sounds coming from another room in the Dimera's house of horrors. Sami gasped. Lexie's face betrayed no emotion.

"I do feel bad for my brother, though, even after the way he cost me my job and my husband and my son, all so he could get me back here to care for my father," Lexie said defiantly. "I mean none of this would have happened if the miserable fool hadn't fallen in love with you. Thank goodness Stefano has finally seen the light about him."

"What do you mean?" Sami asked.

"Well, Stefano decided that now that Tony's out of jail he is having him take care of family business," Lexie said. "E.J.'s just made too many mistakes, although after Rolf is done with him, I suspect E.J. will never again fail to put the family first."

Sami pondered what sort of mind control or torment they must be putting E.J. through as Lexie packed up her medicine bag.

"Well, Sami, your vital signs are normal and the baby's heartbeat is fine so I am getting the hell out of here," Lexie said walking toward the door and knocking twice to let Bart know she was there.

As the door opened and Lexie walked outside, she taunted "Sleep tight!"

But Sami definitely wasn't going to be doing much sleeping that night. There was so much she didn't understand and what she did know frightened her too much to close her eyes.

Her mind raced as she heard some shuffling outside her door and then it opened once again. It was EJ!

Sami's heart leapt with joy that he was being returned to the room, but it sank when she saw the disheveled condition he was in as his chin faced the ground, his eyes barely opened, his shirt was ripped open exposing chiseled abs glistening with sweat while Bart and Rolf steadied his shoulders as he slunk across the room to collapse in the bed.

Sami's sadness turned to rage when she saw the burn marks on his neck, presumably from the electrodes that had been attached there by Rolf or one of his goons. She ran at Rolf and pounded his chest with her fists but Bart quickly pulled her away and restrained her.

"Are you interested in spending the night tied to this chair?" Rolf asked pointing to the wooden chair in the corner.

Sami nodded in the negative.

"Then are you going to cooperate? Can you learn something from your friend over there?" Rolf asked pointing to E.J. writhing on the bed.

Sami grimaced but nodded in the affirmative.

"Good. Then I suggest you get some rest," Rolf said.

"Yeah, Blondie. No more tricks." Bart added as he once more pointed a gun at Sami and the two of them exited the room.

The door slammed and Sami ran over to E.J. to try to talk to him but he was unresponsive making unintelligible groaning noises as she knelt down to comfort him, helping him to remove his shoes and helping him pull the bed covers on top of him.

"What are we going to do?" she sobbed as she caressed his face and held his 5 o'clock shadow in the palm of her hand.

Sami felt his forehead with the back of her hand and watched with concern as the sweat dripped from his temples.

"Oh, E.J., you're burning up!"

Sami quickly retrieved a dingy white cloth from a cabinet above the room's wash basin and wet it in cool water from the faucet. She squeezed the cloth a few times and found the splash of the water soothing after what had been such a dreadful night.

Once the dripping had ceased to her satisfaction, Sami walked over to E.J. and placed the cloth on his forehead and then tried to stifle a yawn with her left hand.

She looked around the room to try to figure out where she might sleep. The room only had the twin bed and there was no way she was moving E.J.

"What the hell?" she finally muttered to herself. " It's not like E.J. will mind."

Sami kicked off her shoes and slid off her jeans, folding them and placing them on the dresser. Next she slowly unbuttoned her shirt while staring at E.J. as he continued to groan and she wondered what exactly the Dimeras had done to him and why.

She folded the shirt and set it on top of her jeans before tiptoeing across the room and lifting the covers.

At first she tried turning away from E.J. with her back to him, nearly falling off the bed a few times, but finally gave up knowing that she would never be comfortable that way.

She turned toward him and lifted up his arm so she could use it as a pillow as she rested her arm across his chest.

Somehow her troubles and fears quickly faded away there and her mind stopped racing so she was finally able to drift away to unconsciousness.

E.J. was dreaming too, much less pleasant dreams, but if she had stayed awake and listened closely to all the jibberish and grunts he spoke in his sleep, eventually she would have been able to make out the one word he was still able to say, "Samantha."

Chapter 12

"Lucas, the shareholders are getting restless," Kate said as she hovered over Lucas's shoulder.

The two of them had spent the entire morning searching for documentation that proved E.J. Wells had been skimming profits from Mythic Communications, but Kate's search through his file cabinets had turned up nothing and Lucas's snooping through E.J.'s computer files had been fruitless as well.

Kate worried what they would tell the board of directors who had already been waiting for five minutes in Mythic's conference room to hear word from Kate and Lucas about the state of the company and the status of E.J. Wells.

Lucas paused a moment to think and rubbed his eyes, which were red and puffy from the sleepless night he'd had the day before.

Lucas had raced as quickly as he could back home catching the last flight from New Orleans to Salem when he learned that Sami had run off with E.J., but he had failed at leaving behind any of his bitterness or regret that he masked with self-righteous anger.

"I can't believe Sami ran off with that bastard who's framed us for embezzling," Lucas groaned as he stood up from behind the computer desk and threw his hands in the air. "It's over, Mom. He's got us. And there isn't anything we can do about it."

Just then E.J.'s office door opened, which was startling because Kate had locked it behind the two of them when they went to work. Lucas's mouth hung agape and Kate held her breath when she saw the tan, middle-aged well-dressed man enter.

"Why Kate and Lucas Roberts? It's been a long time no see, hasn't it?" smiled Tony Dimera.

"Tony," Lucas blurted. "What are you doing here?"

Tony chuckled.

"Now by here do you mean in this office, or in Salem or outside of a jail cell?" Tony asked sarcastically. "Well I am here in this office because I am going to save this company, I am back in Salem to reclaim my life and I'm outside of the jail cell because... well our judicial system works. It may take a few years and a few million dollars in attorney fees, but oh does our judicial system work."

Lucas's brow furrowed while Kate laughed nervously at Tony's joke.

"Well, Tony, we welcome any ideas about how to save the company," Kate said walking closer toward him as if drawn by a magnet. "I assume you are here to tell us the whereabouts of your brother?"

"Well, no, I'm afraid not," Tony said. "My brother as I assume you already know, Lucas, has foolishly decided to run away with another man's wife and totally shirked his responsibilities to this company. I am here to make things right. And when I'm done with that I plan to assume the position of Mythic CEO."

"But how?" Kate asked.

"With this," Tony said producing a stack of papers from inside his suit pocket. "I have proof that my brother, E.J. Wells, deflated earnings reports last year so he could pocket $10 million for himself."

"You're going to turn in your own brother?" Lucas asked, betraying some jealousy in his voice from the knowledge that he would not be the one to get bring down E.J. and would have to get revenge some other way.

"Yes, Lucas I am," Tony explained. "E.J. is family and I do value my family. But not at the expense of this company's investors. Now if you two would join me in the conference room for our presentation..."

"Yes, Tony. This way," Kate said, locking her arm in his and escorting him to the waiting board of directors.

"Oh and Lucas?" Tony said smiling and turning his head back toward Lucas who trailed behind them. "I really think I'm going to like working together again."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 13

Sami awoke to the sound of running water but refused to open her eyes so she could hang onto the wonderful dream she'd had.

She was far away from Salem, far away from everything she knew and frolicking in a magical waterfall in the embrace of a man whose face she could not make out. They had made love for hours and his kiss was more intense, more intoxicating than any she'd shared with Lucas or Austin or even Brandon.

Suddenly Sami remembered where she was and where she had gone to sleep that night and panicked at the thought of how much she had enjoyed sleeping next to a man who wasn't her husband. Yet she opened her eyes to find a pillow in her arms while E.J. was standing shirtless at the wash basin holding a small mirror and shaving his face. She sat up in the bed.

"I thought you'd never wake up," E.J. said flatly staring into the mirror, showing no ill effect in his speech or manner from his ordeal the night before save for some redness around his neck.

"E.J. are you OK?" Sami said, unaware of the bountiful cleavage on display from the black bra she wore without a shirt or sheet to cover it as she spoke.

"Yes, I feel fine," E.J. said turning his head toward her then looking away embarrassed. "And how do you know my name?"

Finished shaving, E.J. retrieved Sami's shirt and pants from across the room and blindly tossed them toward the bed.

"What are you talking about, E.J.?" Sami said as she self-consciously and rapidly dressed. "We've known each other for a year. Quit joking with me."

But Sami sensed E.J. wasn't joking and E.J. confirmed it.

"Well, at the risk of sounding like a cad, my dear, apparently we have not known each other very well, because other than when I found you in my bed this morning I have no recollection of ever meeting you... Miss... Miss..." E.J. asked for help finishing the sentence.

"Sami Brady," Sami said hoping that walking closer to him to inspect him might yield clues about E.J.'s strange change. "Actually, it's Mrs. Sami Brady-Roberts."

"Well, Sami, it's a pleasure to meet you... again," E.J. said taking her hand and then kissing it.

"Wait a second. You seem like you, but something's not right," Sami said trying to pinpoint the difference. "You don't call me Sami. You call me Samantha."

"Well, Samantha, it's a pleasure to meet you... again... again," E.J. said with a laugh kissing her hand once more.

"Stop joking like this. You're weirding me out." Sami frowned.

"I do sincerely apologize for weirding... you... out... as you put it, but I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about, and I do think it's time to go," E.J. said.

"Time to go, E.J.?" Sami puzzled at his words. "Oh, you mean you're ready to try another escape. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

E.J. laughed.

"Actually I'm quite sure helping you escape isn't a good idea, especially since I have been assigned to guard you," E.J. said.

"My guard? Oh, E.J. what did they do to you?" Sami walked toward E.J. and tussled his hair above his ear, dragging her hand along his now-smooth cheek and staring deep into his eyes with a familiarity that troubled E.J.

He gently removed her hand from his cheek.

"Seduction will not secure you my help in your release," E.J. said firmly. 

"Seduce you?" Sami laughed at the absurdity of it all while E.J. shot her a quizzical look. "You really don't remember me or anything about us, do you?"

"No, Samantha," E.J. said shaking his head.

Sami didn't stop staring deeply in his eyes.

"If I haven't yet made that clear I hope to do so now by telling you I truly have no recollection of ever meeting you," E.J. said. "And I'm quite sure that based on this encounter, if I had it would have left quite the impression on me."

Sami sighed.

"Now, if you're ready it's time for you to have some breakfast," E.J. said.

"Oh are you going to go get it?" Sami asked as she walked back toward the bed and sat down. "Do you think there is any way you could bring me back some orange juice? My throat is kind of scratchy. Or wait, you could make me some of your nanny's tea!"

E.J. laughed.

"My nanny's tea? What are you...? You're trouble, has anyone ever told you that?" E.J. asked.

"Well, you did. Once." Sami responded.

E.J. laughed harder.

"Smart man," E.J. said. "Now come on, Trouble. We're going to have breakfast."

Sami got up out of the bed and walked toward the door and watched as E.J. knocked twice and it opened.

"After you," E.J. said waving her through and following close behind.

As Sami left the room she passed Bart, who said nothing while E.J. escorted her back toward the fireplace passageway. At that moment, she stopped questioning E.J.'s sanity and began to question her own.

But crazy or not, Sami knew her goal of escaping Maison Blanche had just gotten infinitely more difficult.

Chapter 14

Lucas felt sick as he sat with his mother and Tony for lunch at Chez Rouge watching them giggle and flirt with Tony whispering in Kate's ear and his mother licking her lips every minute. It was too much for him to take... the excessive touching, the stares... it all looked too familiar and then he realized how much he hated the idea that just when his life had been rid of the Dimera who had been ruining his life the past six months another Dimera sprung up in his place.

Lucas turned his head from them and stared off into space.

Sure, Tony had succeeded in convincing the investors that E.J. had been responsible for Mythic's missing money and E.J. would be broke and likely arrested if the police could ever find him, but that didn't matter. Lucas realized E.J. would always have Sami. If she could forgive him after he raped her... if she was even telling the truth, he thought, and cringed looking down at his left hand... then she was E.J.'s forever no matter what Sami said when she placed the band of gold around his finger that he was now fussing with.

And as he noticed the background to his thoughts was Kate and Tony carrying on and guzzling vodka martini after vodka martini while he sipped on ginger ale, his bitterness only grew. Even though they were probably thousands of miles away, all he could see was E.J. with Sami, his wife, and his fist began clenching on its own tighter and tighter.

"So I was saying... Lucas... Lucas, aren't you listening to me?" Kate attempted to draw him back into their conversation.

"Sorry, mom. I'm just real tired from last night is all," Lucas said. "I think I'm just gonna head back to the apartment and take the rest of the day off."

"Like hell you are," Tony blurted.

Kate was shocked. Suddenly it was as if she was snapped out of a spell and she glared at Tony after hearing him talk to her son that way.

"Now Tony, Lucas flew in late last night to help resolve this shareholder situation and hasn't had hardly any sleep," Kate said. "Can't you give him a break just this once, I mean, especially after what that bitch..."

"MOM!" Lucas shouted.

"Sorry, Lucas... I see even after all that happened you still have feelings for her... but as I was saying after what that witcherr... woman did to him," Kate said as she stirred her martini.

Tony smiled.

"I see how harsh that sounded and I apologize," Tony offered diplomatically. "But what I meant was I don't think you should go home Lucas. I mean, all those memories. You shouldn't put yourself through that right now. If you would like to get some rest I would be willing to put you up in a suite at the Towers for as long as you needed it."

"Well, Tony. That's very generous, but I..." Lucas said before interrupted.

"Oh, Lucas, it's not an entirely selfless gesture," Tony explained. "Just because we pacified the shareholders today doesn't mean that Mythic doesn't remain in a very precarious situation. We need you focused on your work going forward and not getting distracted by what is in the past."

"Lucas, I think that is a great idea," Kate said. "Tony, I truly don't know what I'd do with out you."

Kate cooed while Lucas gagged and turned around to get up to leave after he noticed they had resumed their giggling and flirting. But just then the giggling stopped when Kate and Tony felt a middle-aged man's hands on each of their shoulders.

"Hey, just what in the HELL is going on here?" the man said.

Chapter 15

Sami couldn't have been more confused about what was happening to her at Maison Blanche or what had happened to E.J.

She sat silently at breakfast and watched as Lexie and E.J. laughed carelessly as he told stories about his time on the European racing circuit over their orange juice and the pancakes he had made. The two of them carried on as if they were old friends, Sami thought, then realized no, the banter and stories and jokes reminded her of something else. The conversations she would have when she talked on the phone with her twin brother, Eric. She wondered if she would ever speak to her brother again and almost started to cry before putting him out of her thoughts with other matters.

Even with Bart and Rolf out of sight and E.J. distracted, Sami decided not to attempt another escape for a while. The horrifying work of Rolf on E.J. had served its purpose.

"Sami... Sami..." Lexie said shaking Sami out of her thoughts. "You hardly touched any of your breakfast. Remember, you're eating for two now so you need to be careful.

"How could I forget," she mumbled to herself.

Sami began shoveling in several large bitefuls of her breakfast while E.J. and Lexie went back to their conversation. About a minute later she slammed down her fork on the plate interrupting them.

"All finished," Sami told them. "Now, I would like to lay down for a bit. Is that possible, E.J.?"

"Well, I suppose that's all right," E.J. said turning to Lexie.

"I'll clean up the breakfast mess," Lexie told him. "You go ahead."

E.J. told Sami he had to take care of something first but would be right back.

As the kitchen door shut behind him, Sami started in on Lexie, "So has Rolf wiped your memory clean, too? You sure seemed to enjoy E.J.'s screams of pain last night."

"Listen Sami, I'm just trying to do what I have to do to survive. So that one day I can get back to my son... and my husband, if he'll ever take me back," Lexie said defensively before turning it back on Sami. "That's something I'd think you could relate to, isn't it?"

"But..."

The two of them stopped as E.J. re-entered the room.

"Ready to go, Sami?" E.J. asked cheerfully as Sami looked at him, then Lexie and sighed and got up to leave.

"After you," E.J. said ushering her through the kitchen door.

Sami started walking back toward the fireplace when E.J. came close behind her and grabbed her shoulder.

"Where you going, sweetheart?" E.J. said.

"Well, I thought you were taking me back to my cell so I could lay down," Sami said flatly.

"Your cell?" E.J. laughed. "No, we're not going back to my room. Do you really want to go back to that wretched hovel?"

Sami was perplexed.

"I've been told a flat for you in the attic has finally been finished so if you would like me to show you I'll take you there," E.J. said.

"O.K." Sami said, a little fearful but less so once E.J. grabbed her hand and held it as they made their way up to the stairs to the heavy door at the top of the stairs that he started to unlock.

Chapter 16

"I've been told a flat for you in the attic has finally been finished so if you would like me to show you I'll take you there," E.J. said.

"O.K." Sami said, a little fearful but less so once E.J. grabbed her hand and held it as they made their way up to the stairs to the heavy door at the top of the stairs that he started to unlock.

Sami held her breath as the key turned and E.J. opened the door to the dark room.

"After you," E.J. said, but this time his gentlemanly ways were not appreciated.

"No. You go first," Sami said frightened of the unknown, which E.J. sensed immediately after he had said the words.

"As you wish," E.J. said and kissed the top of her head. He stepped up into the room leaving Sami on the top step while he retrieved a lantern, lit it, and returned back to her.

Sami could have run away just then but she didn't think to. Perhaps it was her curiosity that compelled her to stay.

"Well, I checked, Samantha, and there are no monsters here," E.J. said with an impish smile. 

Sami made a face as she thought, I hope so.

"A lot of dust and maybe some cobwebs, but if there are any spiders here they are no match for me," E.J. said making a show of putting up his fists.

Sami shook her head and let out a sheepish grin as she stepped up into the room to join him.

"Did I just get a smile out of you?" E.J. said teasing. "I think I did."

But Sami was too distracted by the room to notice. Sure there were plenty of dusty boxes, candles everywhere, bookcases stacked with old books and odd pieces of furniture including an old desk, benches and even a large globe that she would have to sort through later... but first her eyes were drawn to the far corner where the room offered a beautiful dark brown Jacobean four poster bed with a trunk to match resting at the foot of it, the most beautiful bed Sami had ever seen.

Sami just loved the wine-colored plush drapes that gilded the posts and its same-colored bedding. Despite her earlier fear of this room and how little she still knew of it she couldn't resist racing over to the bed for closer inspection and began running her fingers over the soft luxury it provided. She sat down and found the bed soft, but not too soft and smiled to herself.

"A little bit nicer than your accommodations last night, eh?" E.J. said as he set down the lantern and used his entire 6'4" inch frame to reach up and pull back some dusty curtains on a small window that seemed to let in a quite disproportionate amount of sunlight into the room for its size. The sunshine did more than just illuminate the room. It filled Sami with a feeling of warmth.

E.J. looked back at Sami and bit his lip as he saw the way the sunlight made her bright blonde hair sparkle before snapping out of it.

"And I believe this is your suitcase, Samantha," E.J. said dragging a heavy piece of luggage from a large walk-in closet that Sami had not yet spotted. "If you so choose however, you are welcome to any of the clothes here in this closet. They're a bit old and fancy and formal for just lounging around the house, of course, but they've just been cleaned and I'd have to say they are in pretty remarkable condition."

Sami's blue eyes appeared almost green as her eyes perked up at the thought.

"Although judging by how heavy that bag is of yours I'm not sure how necessary you will find the closet," E.J. said with a chuckle.

Next he pulled back a curtain along the wall opposite from the bed.

"Sorry this water closet doesn't offer more privacy, my dear, but it does work well and it looks like someone left you quite the array of toiletries and some fresh towels here," E.J. said as he picked up one and held it in front of his face for a second to take in the feeling of home it gave to him.

Sami didn't know why but she had always loved white tubs with feet and was glad this room had one. She couldn't wait to use the flower-scented bubble bath that had been left for her and soak for a while and relax. She couldn't remember the last time she relaxed between her breakup with E.J. and getting back together with Lucas and what happened the night she and E.J. were together and Lucas was saved and all the lies and heartbreak and wedding stress and now this awful honeymoon that followed. She needed to relax.

And as she saw E.J. holding that plush, white towel she couldn't help thinking back to their first their meeting when he was wearing nothing but one and laughed to herself. She started to mention it, but then she remembered E.J. would have no recollection of the memory.

"Hey, E.J. This is all... great... I mean... I never would have expected all this..." Sami tried to get out.

"Samantha, it is nothing," E.J. said. "You deserve nothing less and probably much more."

"That's nice, E.J.," Sami said getting off the bed and walking toward him. "But I have to say I'm rather confused exactly why you are letting me stay in this room and why you're being so nice to me. I mean if Stefano sent you to guard me and keep me prisoner here, I don't get it."

"Prisoner?" E.J. said just as confused as Sami had been. "I'm not here to keep you captive. I've been instructed by my father to protect you."

"Protect me?" Sami said exasperated. "From what?"

"From yourself," E.J. said to Sami's surprise.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 17

Lucas decided he could not stand for one more second to listen to his mother coo as she flirted up a storm with Tony Dimera over their lunch at Chez Rouge.

While the two of them were blissfully unaware and lost in their own conversation, Lucas turned around to get up to leave. But just then their giggling stopped when Kate and Tony felt a middle-aged man's hands on each of their shoulders.

"Hey, just what in the HELL is going on here?" the man said.

Lucas turned around and sat back down at the table.

"Roman... hello... it's nice to see you," Kate said uncomfortably.

"Nice to see you, too, Kate," Roman said passing harsh judgment on her with his eyes and then turning his attention to Tony. "But I can't say the same thing for this bastard. Not very smart of you to come back to Salem after you broke out of jail, Dimera."

Tony smiled.

"I understand if you're not interested in being friends now that I'm back in town, Roman, but I'm a free man now and have the right to live wherever I please and be with whomever I please," Tony said looking at Kate for that last part before shifting his attention back to Roman. "But I just want you to know that in a show of good will and my interest in showing that I am an upstanding citizen of Salem, I promise I will help you however I can as you search for my brother and your daughter."

"Your brother and my daughter? E.J. and Sami? What's he talking about?" Roman said looking at Lucas.

"You haven't told him yet, Lucas?" Tony asked.

"Told me what?" Roman wanted to know.

Lucas started to speak but quickly shut his mouth to try choke back the emotion he felt.

"Lucas, it's OK," Kate told him. "I'll tell him."

"What is going on?" Roman asked as he was getting impatient. "Oh God, Is something wrong with Sami? The baby?"

"In a way, Roman... both. You see E.J. apparently tracked down Lucas and Sami to New Orleans. And she ran away with him," Kate said. "Because the baby she is carrying... is a Dimera."

Roman was shocked and shook his head in disgust for a few moments before collecting himself again.

"I don't believe it," Roman said. "I don't believe it for a second."

"It's true, Roman," Kate said. "Lucas, tell him."

Lucas still was too hurt to speak but the pain in his eyes let Roman know that Lucas agreed with his mother's assessment of the situation.

"Look, I know Sami's done some pretty horrible things to the three of us," Roman said looking at Lucas and Kate.

Tony cleared his throat.

Roman glared at him but continued, "I know she's done some pretty horrible things to ALL the people of Salem... but running away with E.J. just days after she married Lucas? It doesn't make any sense."

"Since when has there been any sense to the things that little witch does," Kate said.

"Hey!" Lucas and Roman said in unison.

"Oops, I slipped. Sorry," Kate said remembering herself as Tony quietly chuckled.

Roman glared at him then looked at Lucas.

"When were you gonna tell me this? Tell her family that she was gone?" Roman asked. "And how do you even know it's true? She told you that she was leaving you for this scum?"

"Not... exactly..." Lucas said.

"Well what is it then exactly, Lucas?" Roman asked.

"Well... she left me a note..." Lucas said as he reached into his suit coat pocket and handed it to Roman. "...and then she left me and she left Will and she left you and she left all her family for E.J. Wells."

Roman looked over the note and scanned it.

"This is all you got," Roman said scoffing. "You gave up on your wife because of a piece of paper? You really think she would abandon her wedding vows and run off with this bastard who shot her step-father, tortured her uncle and God knows what other horrible things he's done to her family? After she finally got the wedding she wanted all these years? How do you even know that Sami wrote this letter? I'm taking this down to the police station to get handwriting analysis done and check this piece of paper for fingerprints."

Tony eyed Roman nervously as he remembered handling the note with his bare hands when he forced Sami to write it back at Maison Blanche.

Chapter 18

"This is all you got," Roman said scoffing. "You gave up on your wife because of a piece of paper? You really think she would abandon her wedding vows and run off with this bastard who shot her step-father, tortured her uncle and God knows what other horrible things he's done to her family? After she finally got the wedding she wanted all these years? How do you even know that Sami wrote this letter?"

Roman turned to walk out and said, "I'm taking this down to the police station to get handwriting analysis done and check this piece of paper for fingerprints."

Tony eyed Roman nervously as he remembered handling the note with his bare hands when he forced Sami to write it back at Maison Blanche.

But to his relief, an unwitting Kate came to his rescue and stopped Roman in his tracks.

"Roman, did you talk to Sami before she left for the honeymoon? About that picture that showed up in her and Lucas's wedding video?" Kate asked delicately.

"The one of the two of them together the night John Black was shot," Roman said sighing. "No, I didn't have a chance to talk to her about that."

Lucas put his head in his hands listening to his mother explain the situation to Roman.

"Well, after the reception, Sami told Lucas that she and E.J. had slept together that night and E.J. told me the same thing," Kate said. "And this whole time she has been making Lucas think that he was the father of the baby she is carrying, she kept it a secret that the baby may be E.J.'s"

"But she helped us set him up with the police that night," Roman said. "SHE was the reason he went to the boathouse the night John was shot. She wouldn't sleep with him unless she had no choice. Oh God..."

Roman was horrified. Kate put her hand on his shoulder to try to console him as he sat down and laid the note on the table.

"I can't believe I let Sami get drawn into this," Roman said. "What was I thinking? How could I have used her like that to try to get E.J. to the boathouse so we could bring him down? And that bastard gets his revenge by raping her that night?"

Roman was in anguish.

Lucas finally decided to start chiming in.

"Well there's more to the story than that, Roman," Lucas said. "She slept with him that night because she needed his help to save my life and lift up the beam when I was trapped in the cabin and that was the only way he would help her."

In that moment, Roman's nostrils flared as his heart filled with quiet rage when he looked at Lucas and wished Sami had let him die.

"So Sami loved you so much that she let E.J. have sex with her and that's the only reason you're alive today," Roman said angrily. "And now after she marries you, she disappears and you automatically think she would just walk out on you for HIM? What kind of husband are you?"

Lucas pondered Roman's words. The criticism stung but he knew he deserved it after all the times he had doubted Sami before.

"Roman, there's more to this," Kate said trying to justify Lucas's suspicions.

Tony's eyes lit up as he thought how lucky he was to have Kate around to help him, even if she didn't know she was doing it. He leered at her lustily wondering what other ways she could be helpful to him.

"Sami also kept it a secret from Lucas that she drugged him and was with E.J. the night that his cabin burned down," Kate said. "This was after E.J. had told me and Lucas that he was running off that night to Las Vegas to marry a Brandy Mathas."

"What?" Roman asked.

"Brandy Mathas," Kate said. "It's an anagram for Samantha Brady. Remember I told you all this the night that I came to you at Chez Rouge for help getting in Lucas's hotel room the night that it turns out that I was right all along and Sami had drugged him to be with E.J."

Roman wasn't interested.

"Don't you know all of this is just like what Stefano did to break up me and Sami's mother?" Roman said. "He kidnapped Marlena and he made me think... he made me think she had been unfaithful with John."

"Well wasn't she?" Kate said to another quiet chuckle from Tony.

"We were trying to make it work..." Roman blurted before he started getting wistful. "If that monster hadn't taken John and Marlena hostage at Maison Blanche all those years ago and made me think she had run off with him, maybe the two of us could have worked things out. Even after Belle was John's daughter."

Tony didn't like the way this conversation was heading.

"I think I get what you're saying, Roman," Lucas said. "We need to find Sami to find out the truth."

"Exactly," Roman said. "I need to talk to Marlena and tell her what the hell's going on right now, but later all of us need to get together to try to come up with a plan to find Sami."

Roman reached for the note but before he could grab it Tony stood up and upset his martini glass so the letter was drenched in vodka.

"Oh, Roman, I'm dreadfully sorry..." Tony said feigning regret for his calculated clumsiness.

"Dammit," Roman said. "Well there's no way to get the fingerprints off this now. We're going to have to head to New Orleans and that house you two were working at to search for clues."

Tony's impish smile turned to a frown at the words. He didn't like this turn of events at all.

Chapter 19

"I have to say I'm rather confused exactly why you are letting me stay in this room and why you're being so nice to me," Sami said. "I mean if Stefano sent you to guard me and keep me prisoner here, I don't get it."

"Prisoner?" E.J. said just as confused as Sami had been. "I'm not here to keep you captive. I've been instructed by my father to protect you."

"Protect me?" Sami said exasperated. "From what?"

"From yourself," E.J. said to Sami's surprise.

"Myself?" Sami snickered and turned away from him and sat down on the bed.

E.J. followed her and sat down next to her. He reached for her hand and clasped it in both his hands.

"Look, Samantha, Rolf told me everything..." E.J. said stroking the back of her wrist and hand with his.

"Everything?" Sami said as she rolled her eyes. "Just what did that crazy doctor tell you? I want every last detail."

"Well... I can see this is upsetting to you... I'm not sure if I should bring this up right now, Samantha," E.J. said dropping her hand. "Maybe I should just let you rest."

E.J. got up off the bed to stand up but Sami pulled him back down.

"No, E.J." she said staring deeply in his eyes. "I NEED to know what Rolf told you."

Her head turned as she thought to herself, I need to know what I'm up against.

"OK... well the way I understand it, and while your figure certainly doesn't show it, that beautiful glimmer in your eye is indicative of the fact that you are currently with child... with a Dimera child, is that right?" E.J. asked.

"Yes," Sami said. "It's true. At least that's what YOU told me."

"What I told you?" E.J. said his as his eyebrow raised. "Oh boy. I really don't think I can go on, Samantha. Maybe another time."

E.J. stood up once more yet Samantha tugged on his waist to pull him back to her once more.

"Go on," Sami encouraged. E.J. nodded.

"The plan for this pregnancy with the Dimera child that you're carrying from what I understand is that the umbilical cord blood from the baby's birth is used to develop a cure for my father's illness," E.J. said.

"Yeah, that's the plan," Sami affirmed.

"Is it coming back to you, now?" E.J. said furrowing his brow at her.

"Just finish the story," she sighed.

"And the reason I am assigned to guard you is that you were having too much stress back in Salem and we brought you here for me to keep an eye on you because..."

"Because what?"

"You tried to attempt suicide," E.J. said with pity. "You were upset about something, Rolf didn't tell me what, and you almost burnt yourself alive at a cabin. And you survived but the stress of the whole ordeal put you in the hospital where you almost lost the baby."

"Pfffft," Sami shook her head. "Rolf said that, did he?"

"Yes. And also that you became pregnant because my father, Stefano Dimera, agreed to pay you $10 million if you were willing to have one of your eggs implanted with the Dimera seed and be the surrogate mother for his child," E.J. said somewhat embarrassed even though he wasn't sure why.

"WHAT?" Sami asked, so livid she shot right up out of the bed and folded her arms in front of her chest before turning back toward E.J. who had also stood up. "Rolf told you THAT! Oh how could he do this? How could Stefano do this to both of us?"

Sami's blood pressure went through the roof as she paced back and forth with a scowl enveloping her entire face.

"Samantha, I don't understand what I've said to upset you so," E.J. said attempting to calm her. "I'm so sorry..."

E.J. reached out to put his arms around her and get her to stand in one place.

"It's not true, E.J. It's not true," Sami said pounding her fists on his chest. "The truth is you... you..."

But before Sami could say more she felt a stabbing pregnancy pain and started sobbing.

"Oh no," E.J. said desperate to help Sami back toward the bed so she could lay down.

E.J. positioned the many pillows on the bed to allow her to lay back somewhat upright as he knelt beside her clutching her face.

"Sweetheart, just breathe with me," E.J. said breathing along with her and staring deeply in her teary blue eyes.

Sami complied and stared back at his face with wonder as she calmed down in his gaze. Here he remembered nothing of her, of them, yet somehow he was just as he was back in the hospital when she had these pains before.

The two breathed together for about fifteen seconds when the pains subsided and E.J. wiped her bangs out of her eyes soothingly.

"Are you sure you're OK now?" E.J. asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Yes, I'm all right," Sami said.

"Do you want me to get Lexie so she can check out you and the baby?" E.J. asked.

"No, I think I'm fine," Sami said then sighed.

E.J. smiled with relief.

"Well I'm glad you're all better now," E.J. said smiling and still caressing her face. "You put quite a scare in me just then. Now, at the risk of upsetting you all over again, Samantha, do you think you can tell me now what you were trying to tell me before?"

Sami went to tell him, but stopped herself before she said the words. She knew he wouldn't remember. The truth would only confuse him or make him think she was crazier than he already did.

"Oh, it can wait," Sami said trying to put what she had to say before out of her mind. "But could you do one thing for me?"

"Anything," E.J. grinned from ear to ear.

"Would you just hold me?" Sami asked longingly then blinked quickly surprised at herself for saying it.

Suddenly E.J.'s grin turned to confusion as his lips quivered and he held his mouth agape while he stopped to think.

"Samantha, I'm not sure that's such a good..."

"Please?" Sami begged realizing it was what she really wanted.

"Well, I did say I would do anything for you, didn't I?" E.J. said with a nervous laugh.

E.J.'s pulse quickened as he gingerly climbed into bed with Sami. As soon as he had positioned himself comfortably laying on his back, Sami turned so that she could rest her head over his heart. E.J. self-consciously hoped she couldn't tell how much his heart was racing beneath her head while Sami reached with her left hand to wrap it around the right side of his long torso.

Finally E.J. gave into the moment and clutched the back of her head with his right hand wishing he could touch every last strand of golden hair on her head while his left hand reached out for her right one and found it.

Instinctively he clung to her wishing they could stay like that forever.

Chapter 20

Roman reached for the note but before he could grab it Tony stood up and upset his martini glass so the letter was drenched in vodka.

"Oh, Roman, I'm dreadfully sorry..." Tony said feigning regret for his calculated clumsiness.

"Dammit," Roman said. "Well there's no way to get the fingerprints off this now. We're going to have to head to New Orleans and that house you two were working at to search for clues."

Tony's impish smile turned to a frown at the words. He didn't like this turn of events at all.

Roman told them he was heading to the hospital to tell Marlena what happened. Even though they hadn't spoken in two weeks, he knew the place to find her was with John, who was still in a coma, at his bedside.

"I'm not sure if Doc will want to come with us or not, but we need everybody's help we can get if we want to figure this out," Roman said. "Maybe she'll save us some trouble and let us use John's plane."

He told Lucas to pack his bags and be ready to head out first thing the next morning as he had some loose ends to tie up at the police station.

"Roman, I can come, too," Kate said.

Roman eyed her skeptically but agreed to accept her offer.

"Damn those Dimeras for hurting her once again," Roman muttered to himself as he walked out of Chez Rouge.

Lucas stood up from the table.

"Mom, I'm going to head out too," Lucas said kissing her on the forehead. "Will should be out of school soon and I need to check in with him to try and explain this latest nightmare. Oh, I guess I should stop by the apartment building and see if Billie can handle Will staying with her a few more days."

"That's fine, Lucas, but you'll have to go to Titan find your sister," Kate said. "Maybe I should come with you. I can make sure my grandson is all right after what happened and I'm dying to find out how Billie's first day back at Countess Wilhemina went."

"No, Mom," Lucas said. "I need to do this alone. I need to be alone right now."

Lucas hurriedly left the table but that didn't stop Kate from yelling out to him, "OK honey! Call me later!"

Tony shook his head at all of Kate's smothering. What a waste, he thought, to see a woman like Kate wasting so much of her life lavishing attention on an ungrateful, sniveling son like Lucas when there were better, more satisfying things she could be giving attention her to. Like him.

Kate gulped down her fourth vodka martini, and stood up from the table too quickly so that she needed to put her hands down to steady herself from the head rush. Then she leaned in and flirtatiously told Tony that as much as she enjoyed their lunch she needed to get back to Mythic to settle things before she left for New Orleans.

"Work?" Tony said pulling her on his lap. "Work can wait."

Tony shut his eyes as the two of them leaned in for a passionate kiss, but his lips went as limp as a fish's when he opened them to look over Kate's shoulder and see the stunning blonde coming out of the restroom.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 21

Finally, E.J. gave into the moment and clutched the back of her head with his right hand wishing he could touch every last strand of golden hair on her head while his left hand reached out for her right one and found it.

Instinctively he clung to her wishing they could stay like that forever. He wished he could stay with Samantha in that bed forever.

But he knew they couldn't.

Sami knew that as well, but she just couldn't stop herself from clinging to him tighter and tighter. She needed this. A moment of peace in her chaotic life to just be held and feel safe for once. For the first time since E.J. held her like this so many times last summer.

It's not that she forgot that E.J. had been manipulating her then to get her to trust him and that many of those embraces were a result of his schemes. It's that in that moment when she really thought about it she realized so much of herself in them, she understood them, she had lived them, the way that she had always fought so hard and so many times fought dirty to get what she wanted, the man that she wanted, whatever the cost.

And she had been fighting for so long - fighting for Austin, fighting for Will, fighting against Lucas, fighting against her family, fighting against E.J. - fighting so hard for so long she realized that she had forgotten what it was like to love. Or perhaps, she thought, she never knew what it was to love.

A small part of her felt some guilt in his embrace. As she rested her weary head upon E.J.'s chest it was filled with fleeting thoughts about her vows to Lucas. But she was so tired. Tired of fighting E.J. Tired of fighting her feelings. So, so tired.

She looked up at E.J. and he gave her a wink and a wry smile. He tenderly brushed the bangs out of her face and held her chin.

"You need to relax, Samantha," E.J. said. "Let me do something for you."

"What do you have in mind?" Sami flirtatiously asked.

"It's a surprise. Just give me a minute," E.J. said getting up from the bed.

One more wink from him and Sami had a grin a mile wide spread across her face. She let out a sigh as she anticipated just what E.J. had in store for her and watched him walk away.

As she laid there waiting for E.J. to return she took in a deep breath and noticed an intoxicating fragrance was suddenly filling the air.

She blinked only to open her eyes to find E.J. standing over her wearing nothing but a white towel, much like he looked that first day they met, the day so much had changed for her and for them. If only she knew then what she knew now she would do so much differently.

But E.J.'s words swept her out of her thoughts.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Ready?" Sami asked. "For what?"

"For this!" E.J. said as he reached down and scooped her up off the bed.

Sami giggled appreciatively.

E.J. carried her to the other side of the room sweeping away the curtain to reveal a tub filled with a sparkling freesia-scented bubble bath surrounded by candles. He put her down and the look of surprise and excitement she gave when she saw what he had done for her lit up his face with contentment and pride.

He put his hand on her face and pulled her into his gaze.

"Oh, E.J." Sami said. "This is so lovely, I don't know how I can..."

E.J. stopped her by pressing his right index finger over her lips.

"I do," he said as his towel dropped to floor and he leaned in for a kiss.

Sami at first bobbed her head a little bit to avoid his lips but like before she realized she was tired of fighting and she finally gave in to a kiss more intense and passionate than any she had ever felt.

All her worries, all her troubles melted away in his arms and as she came up for air she ran her fingers through E.J.'s hair and closed her eyes to say, "I love you."

Yet E.J. was gone when her eyes opened. In a panic and feeling the sweat ringing around her neck she rolled over in the bed but found E.J. was not in the bed. He was no longer even in the room.

She heaved a sigh of immediate relief and sat up in the bed before a more long-term concern crept into her mind.

"Oh, this isn't good," Sami said to herself. "This isn't good at all."

Chapter 22

Lucas paused for a moment before walking over to the Titan receptionist to ask for his sister.

Sure, the pitch to the shareholders had gone well and he would get to keep his job at Mythic Communications, but that didn't assuage the shame he felt returning to Titan for the first time since Victor Kirakis fired him.

He only realized then how much he missed his old job at Titan. He missed not feeling like a lapdog for his mother or E.J. Wells or Tony Dimera, even if he had to admit at Titan he did hold a similar role there for Victor. The difference is that Victor never made him feel like a flunky or a loser... at least until he refused to help him in his quest to get Claire back for Phillip.

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath.

Even if it would have meant helping Victor and his brother take Sami's sister's baby away from her, if he could have done things over again he would have done as Victor ordered, he thought.

He sighed as he stepped up to the counter.

"Uh, hi, I'm here to see Billie Reed," Lucas said.

"And you are?" the receptionist asked with an incredulous glance that surprised Lucas.

"Her brother."

The receptionist laughed.

"You're definitely not Phillip Kiriakis," she said eyeing his J.C. Penney suit with skepticism. "Definitely not in that getup."

"I'm aware that I'm not Phillip Kiriakis," Lucas said fidgeting with his shirt collar defensively. "Just tell her her other brother is here."

"Oh, are you Austin Reed?" the receptionist asked with excitement. "I thought you lived in Europe? Oh, she's told me so much about you... but you look kinda different than the pictures in her office."

"No, dammit, I'm not Austin," Lucas said slamming his fist on the counter. "I'm LUCAS ROBERTS! I used to WORK here!"

"Oh, I see," she said with pity. "It's too bad you don't still work here. I'll call for Ms. Reed, right now."

But just as the receptionist put the phone to her ear Billie came out to the lobby to greet him.

"Lucas!" Billie said excitedly. "So nice to see you! I just have to show you my new office!"

Lucas put on a half-hearted show of enthusiasm about her sister's unlikely sudden success as they walked back to her office, but Billie was too oblivious to notice her brother's jealousy.

"So here it is, bro," Billie said as she paraded around the office. "I am the new president of Countess Wilhelmina. Titan is bringing back the brand and they are letting me spearhead the whole thing. Except this time it's not just cosmetics... it's fashion... it's accessories... it's everything I've ever wanted. Oh it's just SO great to be back working here again! To really get back to my roots, you know. I wish I had never given it up."

"Yeah, Billie, that's great," Lucas said flatly. "I can see you're really excited about this opportunity. But what about Century Cell and everything you put into your security system? I mean when did Titan even decide to restart Countess Wilhemina? It certainly wasn't something that was even in the idea stages six months ago and here they've already got you working on the relaunch?"

"Well, for that I have Century Cell to thank, actually," Billie said.

"I don't understand."

"Well you know how mad I was at Phillip for using my security equipment to spy on Bo and Hope?" Billie asked.

"Yeah?"

"Well Bo and Hope were even angrier with Phillip when he got back from Tinda Lao," Billie said. "But Victor and I reached an agreement where I told Bo that I was wrong when I talked to him before. It wasn't Phillip but E.J. and E.J. alone who was responsible for bugging their house."

"And Victor's end of the agreement was this?"

"You betcha," Billie said proudly. "I decided to put up my Century Cell shares as seed money while Titan provides backing for the whole thing and now I get a shot to finally really make something for myself without relying on Bo, or Mom, or E.J. for help."

Lucas nodded then looked down. A printed e-mail on Billie's desk caught his eye.

"Oh no, Billie," Lucas said. "Not you, too?"

"Not me, too, what?" Billie said squinting at her brother's strange mood swing.

"This," Lucas said picking up the piece of paper and waving it at her furiously. "After you're finally free of that bastard E.J. Wells now you're going to work for Tony Dimera?"

"What?" Billie was confused.

"This e-mail address. ADIMERA. Antony Dimera," Lucas said. "What is it with these Dimeras? It's bad enough that they all seem to get in mom's pants but why do they have to go after you at the same time?"

"Whoa. Hold up," Billie said. "Last I heard Tony was in jail so I don't know what you're talking about. And this ADIMERA isn't Antony Dimera. It's Anna Dimera. You know, Carrie's mom?"

"Oh yeah, Carrie's mom, the fashion designer," Lucas said. "Well, why are you talking to her?"

"Because SHE is going to be working for Countess Wilhelmina," Billie explained. "I don't know why she wanted to leave behind all that glitz and glamour in London, but when I was calling around everywhere in the industry trying to find someone to head up the company's new fashion division, she said she wanted to come back to Salem and so I decided to hire her right away."

"I see," Lucas said.

"Now that that's settled, what's up with you?" Billie asked.

"So Mom didn't tell you?"

"No. She didn't. Are YOU going to tell me what's bugging you?"

"Well I think it would be a shorter conversation if I told you what's NOT bugging me," Lucas said sinking into a chair. "Sami's gone. She actually left me a note on our honeymoon that she was leaving me for E.J. and that she knew even when she married me that baby was his and the whole time had just been hoping I'd find out her secrets and I'd leave her like always so she wouldn't have to feel ashamed of hooking up with E.J."

"Oh Lucas, that's horrible."

"Well, I thought so too. That's why I caught the first plane I could back to Salem,: Lucas said. "But talking to Roman about things made me see that there's a good chance E.J. kidnapped her and maybe she still loves me and this is just another one of the Dimeras' sick games, you know?"

Lucas stood up from the chair and started pacing around the office.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you could let Will stay with you for a few more days," Lucas said. "I'm heading down to New Orleans to help Roman look for clues tomorrow and I'm not sure when we'll be back."

"Sure, bro. Anything you need just let me know." Billie said patting his shoulder. "I just wish there was some way we could get that damn family out our lives once and for all."

"Funny you should say that," Lucas said. "Because even though E.J. has vanished and I finally no longer have to put up with him at work, Tony came back to town today."

"He did?" 

"Yeah," Lucas said. "Apparently his lawyers got him off on appeal. Some technicality or something. And he's already got his paws all over Mom and now HE is going to be my boss. Again."

Billie felt bad for Lucas as she saw him throw up his hands as if in defeat, but she knew there was nothing she could do to make him feel better. He would have to find a way to make his life better on his own. The way she did.

Chapter 23

All Sami's worries, all her troubles melted away in E.J.'s arms she ran her fingers through E.J.'s hair and closed her eyes to say, "I love you."

Yet E.J. was gone when Sami's eyes opened. In a panic and feeling the sweat ringing around her neck she rolled over in the bed but found E.J. was not in the bed. He was no longer even in the room.

She heaved a sigh of immediate relief and sat up in the bed before a more long-term concern crept into her mind.

"Oh, this isn't good," Sami said to herself. "This isn't good at all."

Sami wondered where these dreams were coming from. She loved Lucas, she thought. She loved being with Lucas and that's why she married him. Or at least loved the simplicity of being with him.

With Lucas if there was a problem there wasn't a lie or a bedroom trick that she couldn't pull to cover it up. But E.J...

He always knew what she was up to because he was usually up to something, too. She couldn't hide her lies, her schemes, herself from him the way she could everyone else. She could fool her family, but never him. So what if it that meant it was almost impossible for her to get their acceptance and E.J. cared for her unconditionally? What did a Dimera's love and respect mean anyway?

And Will. Will wanted so badly for his mom and dad to be together. As Sami looked around the room she suddenly remembered where she was. Maison Blanche. The horrible house that had ripped her family apart and forever ruined any chance of her mother and father getting back together.

"I am NOT going to be like my mother," Sami resolved. "I am NOT going to be like my sisters. I am going to hold true to my vows and make sure I raise my baby with my baby's father."

Just then she felt a stab in her stomach. It was a pang of hunger but reminded her she would now have to think of more than just Will when considering her children's feelings.

Sami was sure that hunger pang meant she slept through lunch, but she wondered how late it was. She wondered where E.J. went. And if he would be back. Then she scolded herself for worrying about him so much.

"Oh what am I going to do?" she said. "That's it. I can't think of that right now, I'll think of it tomorrow."

Sami looked around the room trying to find something to do. She picked up a few of the boxes and coughed from the dust their moving had stirred. She set them back down and then walked back toward the bed sending the globe into a rapid spin on her way there.

But instead of sitting down on the bed as she originally intended, she chose to kneel at the foot of the Jacobean four-poster bed. Something was calling her to open the rich brown trunk that matched it.

To her surprise, the trunk wasn't even locked. She slowly lifted the lid to find a collection of books, papers and faded pictures.

Even though she knew none of the people whose photographs and personal messages she handled, she couldn't resist poring over them.

Once she had finished reading the handful of letters that weren't in Italian and had stared at all the pictures so intently they were burned in her mind, she turned to the small leather bound books.

Sami wondered what sort of book would be kept that had no title and no author noted on the outside. Then she began leafing through the pages and got her answer. She leafed through the pages of the book without much care until she stopped on a page about a quarter through the book and made sure to read every last word on the page.

"Stefano, how could you?" she said slamming the book back shut.

Chapter 24

Roman paused at the door of John's hospital room trying to think just how he should break the news to Marlena that once again just when their family seemed to have a tiny sliver of happiness -- Sami finally getting the wedding she always wanted -- the Dimeras swept in to turn their lives upside down.

He decided he would try to be as direct about things as possible since blunt is the only way he knew how to be and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Marlena said sniffling.

"Marlena, you're crying," Roman said walking toward Marlena with concern as she sat next to John's bed holding his cold, limp hand and dropping it to wipe away her tears. "Is John... dead?"

Marlena gasped.

"Oh no, Roman. He's alive. He's just not able to show me he is," she said getting up from the chair because she couldn't handle looking at her husband any longer. "It's just how I get sometimes sitting here alone. When I start to wonder if he'll ever come out of this. If I should put him in that nursing home and stop waiting for him to come back to me."

"Listen, Doc," Roman said putting his hands on her shoulders. "You should do what your heart tells you to do about John. There's no wrong answer here. Your heart knows what's best."

"But I don't know what my heart wants," Marlena said sobbing, then self-consciously turned away from Roman realizing how strange that sounded being said in his arms.

"Well I don't know what to tell you about that, Doc," Roman sighed. "But I do have something else to tell you. Something you're not going to like."

"What do you have to tell me?" Marlena said as her tears stopped and fear gripped her face.

"It's Sami. It seems her honeymoon with Lucas was short-lived," Roman said.

"Oh no, did Lucas leave her AGAIN?" Marlena said throwing her hands up in the air. "You know, Roman, I tried to get her to tell Lucas the truth before the wedding. I tried to get her to see that THIS TIME she needed to go into her wedding vows with all her secrets out in the open..."

"No, Doc, it's not that. Sami did tell Lucas everything and they still went on their honeymoon," Roman explained. "It's just when they got to New Orleans Sami disappeared. Left Lucas a note saying she was running off with E.J. Wells and she was having his baby. She told him she wanted Lucas to leave her so she wouldn't feel guilty about being with him. She said she thought it would give her family, give us, a reason to accept her decision to spend her life with a Dimera."

"Oh no..." Marlena moaned covering her mouth with her hand.

"But I don't believe it, Doc. Not for a second. Something just ain't right," Roman said. "This whole thing. New Orleans. The Dimeras. It actually kind of reminds me of that trick Stefano pulled. With us."

Roman and Marlena shared a long painful stare as they contemplated Maison Blanche and how even though their marriage was already on shaky ground before that happened, they knew that was the final straw that ruined any chance of them staying together.

"Well, what does Lucas think?" Marlena asked desperate to think about something else.

"That's a good question," Roman said. "Lucas came back here to Salem after he found the note and was pretty upset with Sami, but I had a talk with him and now we're going to head down to New Orleans tomorrow to try to search the house they were working at to see if there's anything there we can use to track 'em down."

"How are you getting there? Do you want to use John's plane?" Marlena asked.

"Well now that you mention it... that was something we were hoping..."

"On one condition," Marlena interrupted. "You let me go with you."

Roman sighed. He worried about Marlena heading into this house and getting sucked back in to another one of the Dimera's schemes.

"Are you sure, Doc? What if E.J. is just helping his old man to use Sami as bait to lure us back there? Lure you there?" Roman said. "I'm not sure that's a good..."

"Roman, you know me," Marlena stopped him. "You know you aren't going to be able to talk me out of this. You also know that I can handle myself pretty well against Stefano. The Dimeras have been coming after me for a long time and they haven't beaten me yet. Like hell I'm going to let them win now."

"Well, all right," Roman said accepting but not liking the risks he knew Marlena was willing to take for her children. "See you tomorrow."

He sighed and started heading out then paused at the open doorway. He looked back at Marlena but she had already turned her attention back to John.

"I guess I should head back home now and start packing for New Orleans so I can help Roman and Lucas try to find Sami, but I'll be back to you just as soon as I can, John," Marlena said to herself as she caressed John's face. "Now I need to leave right now to take care of things and let the pilot know to get ready for our flight to the Big Easy..."

Marlena kissed John's forehead and got up to leave before turning back to look at him.

"Big Easy... ha!" Marlena said heading out. "This isn't going to be easy at all, is it?"

If Marlena had shut off the light of John's hospital room just one second later maybe she would have seen. Maybe she would have stopped as John's eyelashes started fluttering and his lips moved.

"Marlena," John murmured through labored speech that had guttural tone. "Marlena, doooooon't gooooooo."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 25

Sami wondered what sort of book would be kept that had no title and no author noted on the outside. Then she began leafing through the pages and got her answer.

Sami browsed past several pages of the book without much care until she stopped on a page about a quarter through the book and made sure to read every last word on the page.

"Stefano, how could you?" she said slamming the book back shut.

She couldn't read anymore. Just when she thought the man couldn't be more vile, more insane or more cruel for what he was doing to his son, E.J., in allowing his memory of the last year to be erased, she had to go and learn that he was capable of this...

That Stefano had lied to his entire family all these years because E.J. was actually the son of Tony and Anna Dimera!

She had to tell E.J. what was going on, she thought. But then she worried. E.J. might not believe her. He might hate her for ruining his idea about his family or maybe E.J. would confront Stefano so that Rolf would wipe E.J.'s memory clean again and she would just back where she started... or worse. No, she couldn't tell E.J. She would have to keep it a secret from him just like Stefano had.

Sami sat down on the floor next to the bed and wrung her hands in frustration as she contemplated how she always knew how cruel the Dimeras had been in keeping people in her family apart because of Stefano's sick vendetta against the Bradys, but she wondered was it really so important to him that he would do this to his son and grandchild?

She cursed Stefano.

But then she paused. She thought harder about what she had read. She picked up the diary again and tapped her fingertips across the cover. She thought some more.

And she thanked Stefano.

Because she could use this diary to convince TONY to let her go. That Stefano wasn't worth saving after all so that she and her baby's umbilical cord blood weren't needed to save him. She smiled as she formulated ways to go about executing the scheme.

But when Sami started diligently reading the diary again she became so engrossed in the material she didn't hear the rustling outside the door or the door opening until E.J. was already standing in the doorway holding a tray..

"Samantha, I thought you might be a little hungry..." E.J. said pausing while he watched Sami stuff something behind her back. "...so I thought I would bring you an early supper. Sorry I didn't wake you for lunch but you seemed like you needed to catch up your rest."

Sami felt him eyeing her with suspicion so she turned on the charm as she shoved the book behind her back and under the bed.

"Oh, E.J., this looks great," Sami said getting up off the floor and walking toward him. "Thank you so much."

E.J. set down the tray so that Sami could shower him with a warm embrace in appreciation of his gesture. And in that embrace he got a strange sense of deja vu.

(watch 40 second mark of this)  
he clung to her tighter and tighter holding the back of her head in the palm of his hand, his thoughts were with this dream-like faint memory of him and Sami. They were hugging and he was comforting her, but where they were and why he was comforting her and what she needed comforting from he did not know.

"E.J.! E.J.!" Sami pounded on his chest while his arms still wrapped around her. "What are you doing?"

Snapped out of the dream, E.J. quickly released her as he was embarrassed by the episode.

"Nothing, Samantha. I'm sorry. It's just..." E.J. paused turning away from her with self-consciousness before coming back to face her and returning to his old cocky, flirting ways. "You know, you need to be a little bit more careful about your affections, sweetheart. I mean... before when you took your nap and now greeting me this way... someday you could give an old boy the wrong idea and break his heart. Or worse. He might break yours."

Hearing those words Sami was instantly reminded of the night when she agreed to have sex with E.J. if he helped her save Lucas's life. She winced and rubbed her stomach as she thought about the night her baby was conceived. E.J. noticed the change in her demeanor.

"Did I say something wrong, Samantha?" E.J. asked even though he already knew the answer.

"No. It's nothing," Sami lied. "I just am really hungry and can't wait to sit down and eat what you've brought me."

Sami put on a fake smile and asked if E.J. would be joining her for the meal.

"Actually, I can't, darling," E.J. said kissing her on the forehead before heading out and pausing at the doorway. "But I'll be back later and we can visit some more. First I have some business to attend to with Father."

Sami watched as E.J. left and the door shut behind him.

"Father," she muttered to herself. "If only E.J. knew."

Chapter 26

Kate gulped down her fourth vodka martini, and stood up from the table at Chez Rouge too quickly so that she needed to put her hands down to steady herself from the head rush. Then she leaned in and flirtatiously told Tony that as much as she enjoyed their lunch she needed to get back to work at Mythic to settle things before she left for New Orleans.

"Work?" Tony said pulling her on his lap. "Work can wait."

Tony shut his eyes as the two of them leaned in for a passionate kiss, but his lips went as limp as a fish's when he opened them to look over Kate's shoulder and see the stunning blonde coming out of the restroom.

Oblivious, Kate continued to nuzzle at Tony's neck while Tony blurted, "Anna!"

It was his ex-wife, Anna Dimera. The two hadn't spoken in the more than 20 years since she left for London heartbroken by their failed marriage attempts and the loss of the child they had conceived. So much had changed for both of them but as he saw her standing there he realized his feelings for her hadn't changed.

Anna laughed as she watched Tony quickly move to disentangle himself from Kate so he could get up to greet her.

"Oh, Tony, don't interrupt your uh... love in the afternoon, that's what it was called right?... all on account of me," Anna cackled.

Kate plastered on a fake smile while she seethed inside and straightened her suit jacket. Tony got up to kiss Anna's hand.

"Anna, you have no idea how good it is to see you," Tony said.

"Probably not," Anna said dismissively. "Anyway, I believe this is Kate Roberts you have with you?"

"Yes, Anna," Kate said proudly stepping forward to offer a firm handshake. "It's nice to finally meet you. Austin told me that he and Carrie had a wonderful time spending Christmas in England visiting with you."

"Well that's good to hear," Anna said wistfully. "It's funny, I spent most of Carrie's life across the ocean from her while she was here in Salem and I was in London, and yet when she finally joins me in Europe she winds up encouraging me to come back here."

Tony watched the two women size each other up while making polite conversation and couldn't help but compare them.

Kate was powerful in her business suit yet sexy in the way her short brown hair was always a perfect mess, her skirt a little too short and how she left one too many buttons of her blouse undone. She wore a little too much makeup but she also knew how to have fun as well as any woman he knew. As hard as life had been for her, he knew that she would be easy for him, Tony thought.

Anna was graceful in her elegant black dress and gold bracelets with her oversized sunglasses holding back the bangs of her long flowing golden hair. Her makeup perfectly accentuated her sensuality and her manners and movement did the same for her complicated vulnerability. The moment with Anna wasn't a fun one for Tony as it brought to the surface so much pain and regret. Tony knew it would be hard, if not impossible, to make up for all the mistakes the two of them had made, to get back what was lost in the twenty years since they had last seen one another.

Meanwhile, Kate sensed the unspoken tension building between Anna and Tony and decided she had enough feeling like the third wheel for the day and left the two of them alone to have things out.

Kate kissed Tony on the cheek and said goodbye, but before she had even taken three steps away Tony was already locked into Anna's gaze.

"So why did you come back to Salem, Anna?" Tony asked.

"Well, I'm actually going to be going into business with Kate's daughter, Billie, if you must know, over at Countess Wilhemina," she said matter of factly.

"But why would you decide to do that? To come back here to work there when you had her your own company back in England?" Tony asked. "I thought you always said Salem wasn't good enough for you, wasn't big enough for you --- that to feel alive you needed the rush and the ritz and the… the… the romance that you could only get across the pond."

"Maybe as you get older and closer to death you get tired of all that, the trappings of being among the young and fabulous," Anna said turning away from him with a sigh. "Lord knows I stopped feeling young and fabulous long ago."

Anna paused for a moment then turned back to face him.

"But Tony, I just want you to know, that even after all that's happened and well, what hasn't happened, I think it is nice to see you, too."

Tony smiled appreciatively.

"Now I really need to be going," Anna said, her eyes soft and lips pursed as she waited for Tony to say something, anything back. He didn't.

Tony wanted to kiss her just then but he didn't. He didn't hug her either. He thought it might hurt too much to hold something he could never have so he just let her walk out of the restaurant and watched her go.

Tony then sat back down at the table having forgotten the martini mess he had made earlier until the spilt vodka had already soaked right through the jacket sleeve of his fancy Italian suit.

It reminded him of the bigger mess at Maison Blanche he would have to clean up before Roman and the others got there.

Chapter 27

Lexie hovered around Stefano's bed as she checked over his chart.

There had been no change in her father's condition for several days, which was a good thing but also a bad thing.

Stefano's body had accepted John's kidney and his vital signs were stable, but since the surgery he couldn't get out of the bed on his own and spent much of the day asleep.

Lexie looked down on her father, the great and powerful Stefano Dimera suddenly helpless and weak, and marveled at how even he was susceptible to life's own fragility.

Caring for him day after day and seeing him in this weakened state made him seem human to her for the first time, so different from the larger than life monster she had tried to shut out of her life so many times before.

As much as she hated the way her brother had threatened her to get her to come to Maison Blanche and take care of Stefano, her opinion of E.J. had also changed in the weeks since she had been in Salem.

She missed Theo, Abe and her mother terribly but she was amazed that despite how cold EJ had been to her and his enemies, how kind he was to their father as he sat with him, fed him ice chips, and talked with him. While Stefano was still not able to respond, his eyes lit up at the sight of EJ just the same. Though EJ's devotion to their father had kept her away from her family, for reasons she didn't understand their bond impressed her. Perhaps because she knew she would never have the same relationship to Stefano she was jealous of it.

Lexie was just about to whisper goodbye for the night to Stefano when a rustling of the curtain behind her startled her so much she nearly fell onto the hospital bed.

"E.J. You nearly scared me half to death!" Lexie told him catching her breath.

"I'm sorry, Lexie," E.J. said. "Is there any change in Father's condition?"

"No. I'm afraid not. He needs that umbilical cord blood or he's not going to make it," Lexie said.

"Well how long does he have to wait?" E.J. asked concerned.

"Well I think he should make it five months," Lexie said. "Rolf, on the other hand..."

"What about Rolf?" E.J. asked.

"Well Rolf is pressuring me to induce labor in Sami," Lexie said. "He is getting impatient."

"But it's too early, isn't it?" E.J. worried. "Samantha's child would die, wouldn't it? That wasn't part of Father's deal, was it?"

Lexie frowned hearing E.J. speak of the pregnancy as if it was a bargain, a business transaction. But she knew she would lose everything if she crossed Tony and revealed the truth to E.J. that he was the father of the child.

"No, E.J., as far as I know that wasn't part of the deal," Lexie said. "But when Tony gets back he might try to renegotiate..."

"Well you can't do it," E.J. said. "Samantha has been through enough with her troubles whatever they are. We can't take away her child as well."

Lexie eyed his concern for Sami with surprise.

"Did Sami tell you something about the baby?" Lexie asked.

"No... I mean she tried to tell me something earlier but she got upset and I had to calm her down but she said nothing once she was all right," E.J. said. "Is there something else I should know?"

Lexie looked at him with pity. But not so much pity that she was willing to put her neck on the line to help him. And especially not to help that witch, Sami Brady.

"No. Nothing," Lexie said before changing the subject and pushing him out the curtain of their father's room. "Really we should both go now. Father needs his rest. And so do you. Good night, E.J."

E.J. sighed. Lexie watched as her brother left the makeshift medical station and started walking toward his room and out of sight then quickly turned back past the doorway again walking toward the secret passage to the living quarters of Maison Blanche.

Chapter 28

Anna sighed as she stopped outside the sign for Chez Rouge and waited for the valet to retrieve her car.

She had come back to Salem in hopes of putting the past behind her once and for all, an idea that seemed plausible back in London when she and Carrie dreamed it up but not so much when that past was staring her in the face in the personage of her ex-husband Tony Dimera.

And her ex-husband Roman Brady, who nearly knocked her over as he brushed against her walking purposefully to the restaurant's front door.

"Hey, watch where you're going," Anna said with a laugh.

"Anna? Anna! I'm so sorry! It's so good to see you," Roman said sheepishly while offering her a friendly hug. "When the hell you'd get back in Salem? And how long you staying?"

"I just got back recently, Roman," Anna said. "And I'm not sure how long I'll stay. At least as long as it takes to complete the Countess Wilhemina relaunch. I just joined up there to head their new fashion division."

"Wow. That's great," Roman said wistfully. "You know I can't tell you how nice it is to see you. Finally some good news on what's been a truly awful day."

"What happened?" Anna asked. "What's wrong?"

"Oh hell I don't think it's fair to dump all my troubles on you yet," Roman said. "I was just coming here to pick up a cell phone I left behind but whaddya say I buy you a drink and then I tell you all about it. And you tell me all about what's going on with you. And how Carrie is doing in Europe. I hate that damn time difference and how the two of us can't have those father-daughter talks like we used to."

"Actually, Roman, I'd love to but I have to..."

"You have to have a drink with me because I'm not taking no for an answer, Anna," Roman said. "C'mon. One drink."

Under other circumstances Anna would have been loathe to turn down a free drink, especially with a kind man like Roman. But she got uncomfortable imagining walking into Chez Rouge with him and Tony seeing them together and getting the wrong idea. He might get jealous.

Just then the memory of that trashy tart Kate Roberts sitting in Tony's lap flashed in her brain.

Hmmmm, she thought, he might get jealous.

"OK, Roman, if you insist," she said plastering on a flirtatious grin and locking arms with him as the two of them entered the restaurant.

As the two of them walked through the crowd of the bar to take their seats Anna craned her neck to glance at Tony's table but other patrons and the restaurant's wait staff obstructed her view.

Finally the sea parted and she got a good view of his table. And her heart sank.

Tony was gone.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 29

Sami set her fork down on her plate and looked down at the few crumbs she had failed to inhale.

She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her stomach and groaned a little, so full after scarfing down the dinner EJ had brought her it felt as if she had gained another baby growing inside her. Yet still she wasn't yet showing the baby she carried.

Sami didn't know what to do about EJ but she didn't know how to stop thinking about him. Oh I think I'll about that tomorrow, she said to herself.

Then something she spied across the room through the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Sami walked toward the attic walk-in closet and decided it was time to explore more of the secrets of Maison Blanche. She dragged her hands over the elaborate ball gowns of gold and purple and green and black, smiling as she felt the unique, cool, luxurious texture of each dress on her skin, before stopping on the red.

It reminded her of something she'd seen in a movie once before.

Sami examined the burgundy ball gown of French silk velvet and marveled at its heart shaped bodice clearly intended to accentuate the wearer's décolletage, its poofy sleeves and flowing skirt. Pinned inside the dress she found a matching set of gloves which she slid on her hands and arms.

Suddenly she felt elegant and graceful. She felt wealthy and powerful. She wondered what sort of a woman wore those gloves before her, if any Dimera woman had worn them or they were just kept as props for Stefano's games.

Still, even the thought of Stefano couldn't shake the spell this gown had over her. She can began to disrobe down to her bra and underwear and held the dress up to her front while standing in front of a full-length mirror with her back to the doorway.

So taken by this outfit, Sami hadn't noticed the man who had just entered into the room with her until she saw him in the mirror.

"E.J. Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Sami snarled with frustration.

"Sorry. Sorry." E.J. said averting his gaze and covering his eyes with his large right hand. "I didn't mean to interrupt dress up time. I just needed to talk to you."

Sami quickly pulled the dress over her head but had not unfastened all the buttons in the back before doing so. E.J. couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he listened to Sami struggle with the gown with her face covered and peeked through the space between his fingers so he could watch her arms pumping furiously in the attempt to pull the dress down.

"Sweetheart, do you need some help?" E.J. asked, not really interested in helping Sami become fully clothed, but making the attempt at being chivalrous.

"No, I think I got it," Sami huffed as she finally pulled the dress into place and bent over the bed heaving out of breath from the struggle, her face flushed and her long golden hair flowing wildly.

"So what do you want?" Sami asked standing up to face E.J.

"Wow." E.J. said emphatically. "Darling, you look amazing."

Sami looked down and noticed her cleavage practically spilling out onto the floor and covered her chest with her arms self-consciously.

"I said... what do you want?" Sami said.

E.J. shook his head for a second as if snapped back into reality.

"I wanted to talk to you, Samantha," E.J. said sitting down on the bed to face her while she stood. "Although I must admit I feel a little funny having this talk with you dressed like this."

"We're not having this conversation with me naked, E.J., so just say what you came here to say," Sami said impatiently.

"All right. Here it is. Something has bothered me all day today, darling. What was it you were trying to tell me before? Before your pains started? Before I helped you breathe again? Before we...?"

"Any WE before was a mistake, E.J." Sami scolded. "I regret asking you to lay with me even if it was only to sleep. It was wrong and it was unfair to you."

"How was it unfair to me?" E.J. asked.

"Because I'm married!" Sami said. "And I plan on staying that way."

E.J. had sensed as much as he felt the gold band around her ring finger when they held hands before, but he had hoped the man in question had left her when she decided to become Stefano's surrogate. Or better yet the man who had given her that ring was dead.

"Oh," E.J. said. "Well I'm sorry if I haven't been as gentlemanly as I should have been in my dealings with you, Samantha. But may I ask... when did you marry this man? Before you agreed to be the surrogate mother of my father's child?"

"Dammit E.J. I am NOT Stefano's surrogate and this baby isn't his!" Sami screamed. "It's yours!"

"But you said you're married to another man..." E.J. said awash in confusion.

"I am," Sami said exasperated. "But I am pregnant with your child because..."

"Because what, Samantha?"

"Because you RAPED me!"

Sami gasped after she said the words and tears started spilling out her eyes as she watched the words explode in E.J.'s face like a nuclear bomb. First there was the shocking noise they made, then brilliant, bright fury and finally total devastation.

"What do you mean, I raped you?" E.J. said, his voice quivering. "We just met this morning for the first time and you are accusing me of rape? Accusing me when I have been nothing but kind to you, nothing but a gentleman to you aside from this moment when I didn't announce my presence before entering the room?"

Sami sobbed as she watched E.J. pace around the room.

"I could NEVER rape someone. Never... especially... especially not someone like you." E.J. said defensively though he didn't know why. "Where do you get these crazy ideas anyway?"

"I got these ideas from the truth, E.J.," Sami said through tears walking toward him and putting her hand on his face. "Even if you don't remember it. It's the truth."

E.J. looked deeply in her eyes and put his hand on hers and he knew her hurt was real. Yet still he had no memories of hurting her that way. Even if he knew he had lied when he told her he wasn't capable of hurting her that way.

"I'm sorry that you think this is what happened, Samantha, but I need to go," E.J. said crestfallen and pushing her hand away. "Good night."

Sami cried as she watched E.J. solemnly walk out the door of the attic and shut the door behind him. She quickly threw off her dress and climbed into bed collapsing in a heap of sobs and wishing she had kept her big mouth shut and wondering if she had thrown away any chance of escape.

That night Sami cried herself to sleep.

Chapter 30

Sami awoke to the sound of two men arguing. At first she thought she was still dreaming as she groggily listened to them carry on.

"We need to get her into surgery now. Father may not last if we wait another five months for the umbilical cord blood. I don't know why you are fighting me on this."

"Sorry, Tony, I won't let you do that to her. Or to her innocent child."

Sami was filled with panic as she recognized the voices. It was E.J. and he was arguing with Tony Dimera, who had come to try to take her baby. At first Sami reached down beneath the bed for Stefano's diary and prepared to reveal all to Tony, but the menace in Tony's voice terrified her so much so that instead she quickly pulled her arm back without the men noticing and pretended to be asleep. Sami pulled the sheets up to her eyes while listening in horror.

"Where did your sudden interest in the innocents of this world come from, brother?" Tony asked. "You know as well as I do that this woman agreed of her own free will to Father's plan to pay her $10 million to become pregnant with this child for the sole purpose of saving Father's life."

"Do I?" E.J. muttered, but not so quiet that Tony couldn't hear him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony asked.

But before E.J. could answer they heard rustling and then the murmurs of people's voices through the vents downstairs.

"Damn," Tony said. "I thought they would arrive here later than this."

"Who is they?" E.J. asked.

"Don't worry about it," Tony said. "Just keep the girl here in this room and keep her quiet. Do NOT let her get out so that they might see her."

"Why can't these people see her, Tony?" E.J. asked.

"I'll tell you later," Tony said. "Just know that Father's life depends on you following these orders."

Tony left the room to head downstairs while E.J. looked over at Samantha now sitting upright in bed clutching the sheets tightly with her hands. He pondered what to do next.

Chapter 31

Tony shut the door and worried what E.J. would do. He had hoped to get Sami downstairs and through the secret passageway to bring her into surgery before the Salem search party arrived, but now he would have to rely on his suddenly quite untrustworthy brother to subdue her and hope for the best -- that no one would look in the attic.

Rolf had told him about his memory erasing procedure he had undertaken on his brother and while Tony regretted Rolf's doing so without his authority he was disappointed it did not afford them the control over E.J. that they expected.

Tony quietly tiptoed down the steps to the second floor when suddenly he heard footsteps and voices coming up the stairs.

Luckily, Tony was able to dart back up and hide behind a bend in the staircase between the second floor and the attic while he watched Marlena, Roman and Lucas ascend the top steps of the grand staircase without noticing him and then turn right and disappear down a long hallway once they arrived at the second floor. He listened as Lucas led them into a far bedroom and showed them where he slept the night Sami disappeared.

Seeing his opportunity, Tony bounded down the steps of the grand staircase swiftly but with precision, like a tiger. Heaving a sigh of relief when he saw no one and nothing downstairs in the large front room he calmly adjusted his suit tie and walked toward the fireplace just about to press the button to open the secret passageway and make his escape... when a familiar voice stopped him.

"Tony, just what do you think you are doing here?" Kate whispered.

Tony recognized the voice and turned on his heels back to face her with a smile over his face.

"Kate, love, I'm here to join the search party," Tony said. " E.J. made off with $10 million of our money and I intend to track him down and get it back from him."

Kate scoffed.

"I see, Tony," Kate said throwing her hands up in the air. "Funny how you failed to mention your New Orleans trip yesterday."

"Am I sensing a little skepticism?" Tony asked flirtatiously.

"Not a little," Kate said just as flirtatiously. "A lot."

"Well, Kate, dear," Tony said moving toward her and caressing her face. "I assure you that I want to find E.J. and Sami and bring them back to Salem just as much as you do."

Kate knew that meant he actually didn't want to find Sami and E.J. at all, but considering them staying gone would mean the end of Lucas's marriage to the witch she was intrigued.

Kate licked her lips and leaned in for a kiss but stopped when they were interrupted.

"Hey, just what in the hell is going on here?" Roman asked furiously, while a disgusted Marlena and a horrified Lucas looked on.

Chapter 32

"Damn," Tony said. "I thought they would arrive here later than this."

"Who is they?" E.J. asked.

"Don't worry about it," Tony said. "Just keep the girl here in this room and keep her quiet. Do NOT let her get out so that they might see her."

"Why can't these people see her, Tony?" E.J. asked.

"I'll tell you later," Tony said. "Just know that Father's life depends on you following these orders."

Tony left the room to head downstairs while E.J. looked over at Samantha now sitting upright in bed clutching the sheets tightly with her hands. He pondered what to do next.

E.J. turned away from Sami and walked toward the door to see if anyone was coming. He heard nothing and began pacing the room anxiously wondering how long Sami had been listening to their conversation.

"E.J., what's going on?" Sami said. "Who is here?"

E.J. walked toward Sami and sat at the end of the bed and turned to face her but said nothing and sighed.

"Is someone here to save me? Is something good happening to Samantha Brady FOR ONCE? Am I really getting out of this awful place?" Sami said to herself as she excitedly hopped out of bed with her voice picking up in volume as she bounded around the room until it had built to a shout. "Is my dad here? My mom? Did Lu...?"

E.J. stood and covered her mouth with the palm of her right hand before she could finish her thought about her husband coming back for her.

"Samantha... I... I can't let you... I'm so sorry... So so sorry," he whispered.

To E.J.'s surprise Sami bit down hard on his hand.

"Owww," E.J. said in shock more than pain as he shook away the minor sting.

"You're sorry?" Sami said incredulously, turning to face him and pounding at his chest with her fists. "No, you're not sorry. Maybe you could have been sorry before. But not now. Not after Rolf wiped your memory clean. Not after Tony has just proven that you were never here to PROTECT ME you're hear to IMPRISON ME."

Sami began to sob.

"Not after I've told you the truth which you refuse to acknowledge and you still believe that this child..."

"Samantha, I don't know what the truth is..." E.J. said pausing to wipe a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "I only know that disobeying Tony right now puts your child... or our child... if that is the case... in more danger than doing what he says."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 33

"Well, Kate, dear," Tony said moving toward her and caressing her face. "I assure you that I want to find E.J. and Sami and bring them back to Salem just as much as you do."

Kate knew that meant he actually didn't want to find Sami and E.J. at all, but considering them staying gone would mean the end of Lucas's marriage to the witch she was intrigued.

Kate licked her lips and leaned in for a kiss but stopped when they were interrupted.

"Hey, just what in the hell is going on here?" Roman asked furiously, while a disgusted Marlena and a horrified Lucas looked on.

Tony smiled.

"Is it a little early yet for love in the afternoon?" Tony joked but was the only one who laughed. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist. But Roman, if you must know I'm here to lend you my services."

"Your services?" Lucas scoffed.

"Yes. You see I'm here to help out the search party any way I can," Tony said grinning, not even bothering to feign sincerity.

"Why do you care if we find my daughter?" Roman asked angrily. "How did you even know where to find this place?"

"Well, as you all know by now, my brother, E.J. made off with quite a bit of money that Kate and I have a responsibility to try to track down as Mythic's chief corporate officers, so she thought I might join you here," Tony said with a wink at Kate.

"Oh did you, Kate?" Marlena snarled, still filled with fresh hatred for Kate for the danger in which Kate's son Phillip had put Belle and her granddaughter Claire in Tinda Lao.

Not to mention her lingering disdain for Kate keeping Claire's paternity a secret from Belle and Shawn and the fact that while she no longer wanted Roman, she hated the idea of any other woman having him even if it was only for a short while in Kate's marriage to Roman.

Suddenly defensive, Kate played right into Tony's hands covering up for him not so much to protect him but to protect herself from Marlena's damning stare.

"Look, I know I have had my issues with Sami over the years, but she is... my son's... wife," she said gulping as the words came out of her mouth. "And I just thought we should use all the resources that we could to track her down and Tony certainly has a lot of them."

Tony smiled.

None of them were buying Kate's story but it wouldn't matter because at that moment Marlena's phone started ringing.

Chapter 34

Belle was standing outside her father's hospital room holding a cell phone up to her ear and crying as she prayed her mother would pick up at the other end of the line.

"Hello," Marlena said.

"Mom... It's Dad... He's... He's..." Belle said crying too hard to get the words out.

"No, not John," Marlena said, her mouth agape as she turned to look at Roman and the rest of them stopped and stared wondering what bad news about John Black awaited Marlena on the other end of the phone call.

Roman put his arm around Marlena knowing he couldn't protect her from whatever bad news she was getting but wanting to help her get through it just the same.

"Belle," Marlena said setting aside her concern for her husband for that of their child. "Calm down. It will be all right. Just tell me what happened."

"Oh... OK... well... you see... after... you left... today," Belle said through tears. "Dad... he started to move... He moved his hand when I was here."

"He's coming back to us. Finally. That's wonderful," Marlena said sighing in relief and placing her hand flat against her heart. 

"Well... no, Mom. It's not," Belle explained. "Because after... after he moved his hand... it stopped moving... And his machines started beeping... And all the nurses and doctors rushed in... They made me leave," Belle said. "Mom, I think Dad's going to die soon."

Marlena said nothing for a few seconds and covered her mouth with her face as a single tear dripped down her face.

"Belle, you've just got to keep your spirit up, all right," Marlena said smiling through tears. "I need you to keep believing in your dad. Because you know he's believing in us right now. Inside. Deep down. Whatever he is like on the outside. I'm going to leave right now and get there as soon as I can. I just need you to believe until I get there, all right, sweetie."

"O.K. Mom," Belle said as her sobbing subsided somewhat. "I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Bye, honey," Marlena said. "I love you."

Marlena closed her cell phone and fell into Roman's arms sobbing. Roman knew his search for Sami was over.

"Well, let's go," Roman said to Kate and Lucas as he shepherded Marlena toward the mansion's exit so they could hurry back on John's jet to Salem. 

Tony couldn't believe his luck.

But Lucas didn't follow Roman, Marlena and Kate toward the door.

"Lucas, let's go," Roman said while Marlena continued to cry. "Are you coming or not?"

"I'm not," Lucas said.

Chapter 35

"Lucas, we don't have time for this," Roman said furiously. "Marlena needs to get back to Salem NOW."

Tony sensed he wasn't quite as lucky as he thought, although he knew deep down it's really up to a man to make his own luck.

"Lucas wants to keep the search going... as do I," Tony volunteered. "I think I have a solution for us."

"You?" Marlena scoffed.

"Yes. Me," Tony smiled. "I say you two head back to Salem on John Black's plane while Kate and Lucas can continue the search and we can all head back to Salem on the Mythic company jet that I took here to New Orleans."

"You're using the Mythic jet already?" Lucas sneered.

"Lucas, we are very fortunate that Tony used that jet and joined us here so that we can continue the search," Kate scolded.

"Now I'm not so sure about..." Roman said before Marlena interrupted.

"Roman, you can stay too if you want," Marlena assured him. "But I have to get back to Salem."

"I know you do, Doc," Roman whispered hugging her warmly with one arm while opening the door with his free hand. "Let's go."

The two left and Tony's grin grew.

Tony and Kate shared conspiratorial glances as they followed Lucas around the house, occasionally picking up objects to look busy but mostly just waiting for Lucas to give up the search. The way he always gave up at everything.

Yet this time Lucas seemed intent as he went about the house, running his hand along walls, opening cabinets and drawers and closets throughout the first two floors of the house. Something about seeing Marlena learn that perhaps she was about to lose the love of her life made Lucas cling that much tighter to the faint hope he could be reunited with Sami.

Still, even noticing that intensity, Tony chaperoned Lucas's search throughout the house with total nonchalance. That is until sweat beads began gathering around his neck and his pulse raced when he saw Lucas start walking up the stairs to the attic.

Chapter 36

"You're sorry?" Sami said incredulously, turning to face E.J. and pounding at his chest with her fists. "No, you're not sorry. Maybe you could have been sorry before. But not now. Not after Rolf wiped your memory clean. Not after Tony has just proven that you were never here to PROTECT ME you're hear to IMPRISON ME."

Sami began to sob.

"Not after I've told you the truth which you refuse to acknowledge and you still believe that this child..."

"Samantha, I don't know what the truth is..." E.J. said pausing to wipe a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "I only know that disobeying Tony right now puts your child... or our child... if that is the case... in more danger than doing what he says."

"You're so naive," Sami said shaking her head.

"I'm naive, eh?" E.J. said. "O.K. Maybe I am naive. But I'm not CRAZY. Which is exactly what you are telling me this insane story that my family had my memory wiped clean for disobedience yet begging me to disobey my brother now."

Sami rolled her eyes but deep down sensed he might be right about this.

"Look, Samantha," E.J. said. "You have an ally in me right now. Regardless of what you think happened between us in the past. Regardless of what I think about the baby you're carrying. Regardless of our talk last night..."

E.J. let out a sigh.

"I like you, all right."

"You... LIKE... me?" Sami laughed.

"That's funny, is it?" E.J. said, his ego bruised. "Well it's true. I... I... don't know what it is about you. But I want to help you. And I think I can if you stay here."

Sami considered his words with not just her brain, but also her eyes and mouth, before responding several seconds later.

"E.J., I was pretending to be asleep before," Sami revealed. "I heard Tony say that he wants me to go into surgery NOW. That he needs to take this baby from me to stop your father from dying."

"Well, that's not true," E.J. said. "That's just Rolf's impatience. Father can wait until your child is born naturally. And I am NOT letting Tony take your child. Neither is Lexie."

"Ha! Lexie?" Sami said throwing her hands in the air.

"Lexie hates me, E.J. After everything I've put her through over the years with Brandon and her cancer screening and my sister and losing her job at the hospital..." Sami said ticking off her litany of crimes against his sister before stopping when she looked up and noticed E.J.'s confusion. "Just suffice it to say, there's no way she would stick her neck out for ME. She hates me."

"Well she doesn't hate me," E.J. said.

Sami was once again reminded of how much E.J.'s lack of a memory of the last year colored his outlook on things with much more optimism than the situation should have allowed.

"And she wouldn't let her brother's child be killed. If everything is as you say and I've had my memory erased... if everyone is just lying to me as you say then Lexie knows that this child is mine and wouldn't let anything happen to it. Right?"

But before Sami could answer E.J. and Sami heard voices outside the door. E.J. instinctively wrapped his arms around Sami. E.J. covered her mouth but this time Sami didn't bite it or try to speak. Nor did she struggle.

She realized she would have to show Tony the diary to make this madness stop if it ever was to stop. She would have to pray that Tony's outrage that Stefano had kept the fact that E.J. was his son a secret all these years would be enough to protect her baby.

E.J. shuffled toward the door along with Sami in his arms so that he could lean against the locked door and block it should anyone try to break it down. The two of them could hear everything the voices in the stairway were saying.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 37

E.J. shuffled toward the door along with Sami in his arms so that he could lean against the locked door and block it should anyone try to break it down. The two of them could hear everything the voices in the stairway were saying.

Listening so intently to the conversation, E.J. lost concentration for a moment and his hand slipped off Sami's mouth. Sami was also listening intently, so much so she didn't notice.

"Lucas, I really think we've done about all we can do today," Tony said. "I think it's time to head back to Salem."

"No, Tony, I'm not giving up until I've searched every single inch of this place," Lucas said. "And that includes whatever it is that's behind this door."

"Oh please," Sami heard a familiar woman's voice say. "It's time to give up this charade."

It was Kate!

"Just my luck," Sami whispered. "I get captured by the Dimeras and Kate Roberts is on my Salem rescue squad."

"Shhhhhhhh," E.J. whispered covering her mouth again gently.

"What charade, mom?" Lucas asked. "How is it a charade that I happen to care so deeply about my wife that I am willing to turn over every nook and cranny in this place just find one little sliver of a clue where the hell she is?

Sami smiled beneath E.J.'s hand.

"It's a charade because not an hour after she disappeared and you got that note for her you were on the phone with me telling me how it was over between the two of you for good this time," Kate said.

Sami's smile evaporated while one began to take shape on Tony's face on the other side of the door.

"You were going on and on 'How can she do this to me? How can she do this to Will? Again? Guess I shouldn't have expected anything else from Sami Brady'" Kate reminded him. "She threw it all away for that limey bastard."

E.J. didn't know what to make of the "limey bastard" comment, but for a reason he didn't understand felt offended. Lucas said nothing but just glared at the truth while Kate continued.

"You know as well as I do that we wouldn't even be here if Roman hadn't talked you into looking for Sami," Kate said. "I mean what does that say about the two of you together that her father believed she'd never run away on her honeymoon and abandon her wedding vows so carelessly but her husband would."

Sami's devastation tugged at her like an anchor and her body started to slide toward the floor. E.J. caught her and pulled her back up. Filled with sympathy he guided her away from the door so the two of them could no longer hear the conversation outside the room and he enveloped Sami in a huge bear hug. Sami's tears filled the front of his shirt.

Meanwhile, Kate continued her scathing critique in the stairway.

"I tried to warn you, Lucas," Kate said. "I tried to tell you that Sami and E.J. were together the night you were trapped in that cabin. Tried to get you help the night Sami DRUGGED you to run off and be with E.J. The night he said he was supposed to marry Brandy Mathas. Remember?"

Kate paused for a minute clenching her teeth in frustration at all the time she saw her favorite son waste on a woman who would only bring him misery.

"And yet you still married her," Kate said attempting to hold back tears." And yet you went on this honeymoon with her here after she admitted it all. Even that the baby she is carrying could be another man's."

Lucas just pouted.

"Face it, Lucas," Kate said. "This isn't about Sami. This is about you trying to be some tough guy hero you're not. It's about you trying to... to... finally earn some man badge you feel like you never got because of your drinking or because of Nicole or because Carrie or because of something..."

"ENOUGH!" Lucas raged. "You've made your point. Let's just get the hell out of here."

"Yes, let's," Tony said nodding as the two of them began their descent down the staircase and out of Maison Blanche.

As they headed out the front door, Tony looked back on the house and smiled at how beautifully all his plans were working.

Chapter 38

Marlena ran through the hospital with Roman trailing behind her where they stopped at the hallway outside John's room. There they found Belle not crying, but devastated just the same.

"How's your father?" Marlena asked out of breath from the rush of getting there.

"Oh Mom," Belle said hugging her mother. "It doesn't look good."

Marlena gently patted the back of Belle's head.

"We're going to get through this," Marlena told her. "No matter what."

Then she turned to Roman.

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming back with me so I didn't have to be alone," she said. "Now if you two don't mind, I think I need to see John for myself."

Belle nodded and left to get them all cups of coffee.

Marlena opened the door and walked into the room to find John surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses.

"How is he?" she asked a nurse entering data from some tests she had performed into a computerized chart.

The nurse just shook her head as if to say no while she attended to her work.

In a panic, Marlena rushed over to get a closer look at her husband and was saddened to see the tubes running through his nose and mouth while wires were attached all over his body. Still, she felt a slight comfort in the ba-bump she heard beeping from the heart rate monitor.

Until the monitor flat lined.

"What's going on?" Marlena cried.

Marlena watched in horror as the machines attached to her husband pulsated with a cacophony of distress signals and the doctors and nurses chaotically moved about John's bed in attending to him.

Hearing the commotion, Roman walked toward the room and leaned up to get a look at things through the small square window of the door.

"Ma'am you need to get out of here," A nurse told her putting her hands on Marlena's shoulders and pushing her back.

But Marlena would not be pushed around and she shoved the nurse out of the way to creep down to her husband's bedside holding his hand.

"John," Marlena said smiling through tears and grasping his hand tightly while the doctors worked around her crouched kneeling at his bedside. "I just want you to know I'm here. Marlena is here for you. And I will always be here for you no matter what. Now if you're in there and you can hear me... if you're ready... John please, why don't you come back to me? I need you so much."

Suddenly John's heart monitor started beeping again slowly but steadily.

"What?" Marlena asked. "What's going on?"

"It's a miracle," one of the doctors told her.

Marlena's tears of fear and sorrow soon began flooding her face with joy as she held his hand with her right hand and ran her fingers across his scalp with her other hand.

First, John's hands started wiggling. And then his eyes fluttered.

"I understand you had a bit of a rough day today. I'm sorry I had to leave you," Marlena told him. "I'm sorry I had to go to New Orleans without you. I promise I'll never do that again. I promise I'll never leave you again."

With that promise John's eyes opened wide and he smiled a giant blissful, if groggy smile at the sight of her face. Marlena delighted at the expression of devotion he showed while Roman seeing everything unfold through the window turned away from the door deciding he'd seen enough and knew how this story would end.

"Marlena," John said sighing. "You're safe. Stefano didn't get you."

Marlena didn't understand the meaning of John's words and just chalked them up to a strange comatose dream he must've had about their past battles with the Dimera patriarch. She was too happy to have her husband alive and awake in that moment to worry what the future would hold for them.

Chapter 39

"Oh please," Sami heard a familiar woman's voice on the other side of the attic door say. "It's time to give up this charade."

It was Kate!

"Just my luck," Sami whispered. "I get captured by the Dimeras and Kate Roberts is on my Salem rescue squad."

"Shhhhhhhh," E.J. whispered covering her mouth again gently.

"What charade, mom?" Lucas asked. "How is it a charade that I happen to care so deeply about my wife that I am willing to turn over every nook and cranny in this place just to find one little sliver of a clue where the hell she is?

Sami smiled beneath E.J.'s hand.

"It's a charade because not an hour after she disappeared and you got that note from her you were on the phone with me telling me how it was over between the two of you for good this time," Kate said.

Sami's smile evaporated while one began to take shape on Tony's face on the other side of the door.

"You were going on and on: 'How can she do this to me? How can she do this to Will? Again? Guess I shouldn't have expected anything else from Sami Brady'" Kate reminded him. "She threw it all away for that limey bastard."

E.J. didn't know what to make of the "limey bastard" comment, but for a reason he didn't understand felt offended. Lucas said nothing but just glared at the truth while Kate continued.

"You know as well as I do that we wouldn't even be here if Roman hadn't talked you into looking for Sami," Kate said. "I mean what does that say about the two of you together that her father believed she'd never run away on her honeymoon and abandon her wedding vows so carelessly but her husband would."

Sami's devastation tugged at her like an anchor and her body started to slide toward the floor. E.J. caught her and pulled her back up. Filled with sympathy he guided her away from the door so the two of them could no longer hear the conversation outside the room and he enveloped Sami in a huge bear hug. Sami's tears filled the front of his shirt.

E.J. caressed the back of Sami's head whispering "It'll be all right, darling" and other sweet reassurances while she heaved with sobs in his arms for several minutes. Finally, her face flushed and with no tears left to cry she looked up at him.

"E.J., I... I don't know what I'll do without Lucas. Without EVER having a real family with him," Sami said sniffling. "I... I... I don't think I can go on living."

With those words Sami fainted in his arms. E.J. carried her over to the bed to lay her down and sat down next to her.

"Samantha... Samantha... wake up... Samantha," E.J. said gently patting her cheek.

Sami finally came to but when she opened her eyes and saw it was E.J. who was there to greet her she was no longer the placid, melodramatic Southern belle in need of her smelling salts.

"YOU!" Sami accused.

"Me?" E.J. asked, confused.

"It's YOUR fault this happened," Sami claimed hopping angrily out of the bed and pointing her finger in his face. "If you... if you had never come to Salem I would be married to Lucas right now and we'd be a real family."

But after saying those words she realized she needed to clarify.

"Well OK... actually I'd be married to Austin if you never came to Salem," Sami said. "But... but... if you had never developed this SICK obsession with me trying to make me fall in love with you and being around me all the time... if you had never tried so hard to come between me and Lucas... if you and your screwed up family had never tried to... plant the Dimera seed in me... then Lucas and I would be happily married together."

"You really think that?" E.J. asked.

"Yes I really think that," Sami said folding her arms across her chest. "I know you don't believe me because you don't have any memory of what happened. But I know it. It's true. Lucas and I would be happy if it wasn't for you."

"Now Samantha, setting aside all this... plant the Dimera seed business...," E.J. said wincing at the phrase. "Why on earth would you think your husband would be justified in thinking that you would run away on your honeymoon with another man if you didn't cheat on him? Have you told him what you think happened when this baby was conceived?"

"Yes, E.J.," Sami informed him. "After the wedding I told Lucas that you RAPED me."

"AFTER the wedding?" E.J. said, perplexed.

"Yes!" Sami said exasperated at trying to explain the situation. "After the wedding I told him everything, well most of everything anyway, and he believed me. For the first time in our relationship, he truly believed ME, not his mom, ME. And he promised to stand by ME and that we would work all this out."

"O.K..." E.J. said. "He promised to stand by you... until you disappeared the first night of your honeymoon together and he said, 'Forget it, that's her problem.'"

"It's complicated, E.J.," Sami said frowning and looking at the floor.

"Indeed," E.J. said taking his thumb and index finger to lift her chin upright to look at him. "You know they say most things of any value are."

Chapter 40

"It's complicated, E.J.," Sami said frowning and looking at the floor.

"Indeed," E.J. said taking his thumb and index finger to lift her chin upright to look at him. "You know they say most things of any value are."

Sami's frown changed to a grin as she looked away from E.J. thinking about how different he was since his memory was gone, yet how much he was the same.

"It's just, E.J., I thought this time would be different," Sami said. "I finally got married. After TEN tries I finally got married..."

E.J. slapped his hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh at the phrase prompting a glare from Sami who continued.

"I thought this would be the time I got my happily ever after, you know," Sami whined. "I thought I had finally gotten my fairytale ending with the handsome prince standing by my side after all the obstacles that had kept us apart. Now I find out I'm going to be stuck. Alone. Forever. Just me and the frog."

E.J. put his hand on Sami's shoulder.

"I know you probably don't want to hear it from me, I just wish you could see how amazing you are, how lucky any man would be to have you in his life, Samantha. Just the drama and chaos and that surrounds you could provide enough excitement to last a man ten lifetimes," E.J. declared. "Not to mention, the beauty and the charm you possess. I mean you are the quite possibly the most bewitching woman I've ever met."

"Bewitching, is it?" Sami snarked. "Well I certainly know a few men who would agree with at least one of those syllables."

"I'm serious, Samantha," E.J. said. "You know, I'm not necessarily proud of this, but I have to admit I've gotten to know quite a few women in my day but none of them, not one of them, stirred my heart the way you do. I mean if I had a woman like you in my life and someone tried to take her away from me..."

E.J. paused as he tried to choose the right words to convey his convictions.

"If someone took her away from me, I would never give up on her... Know that, Samantha. If someone took her away from me, I would never stop looking for her..." E.J. said emphatically. "I would never stop fighting for the chance to hold her in my arms again."

Though E.J. had told her similar things many times, in that moment as she finally and truly looked at the handsome man who was saying them and contemplated the passion and sincerity behind them her resistance finally melted. She had tried to play by Salem's rules so many times for so many years and all it had done was leave her heartbroken and alone. Here was a beautiful, charming man -- albeit a STRANGE, beautiful, charming man with A LOT of baggage -- but one who loved her deeply and unconditionally, even without a single memory to tell him why.

With that thought, it was as if a veil had been lifted from Sami's heart and mind.

"I would die before..." E.J. continued in his flowery speech before Sami interrupted.

"Oh, just stop it already," Sami said rolling her eyes. "I get it."

"Do you?" E.J. asked.

"Yeah, E.J.," Sami said biting her lip. "For the first time... I think I do."

To E.J.'s surprise, Sami began to move toward him and placed her hands on his chest sliding them slowly upward until they rested on each side of his face.

"For the first time, E.J.," Sami said. "I finally understand."

E.J. closed his eyes and smiled as Sami stood on her tiptoes to lightly peck at his neck for several seconds before he turned his head so that his lips could find hers and they could share an intensely passionate kiss.

The two of them continued kissing as if the other's lips was their only source of oxygen, as if their lives depended on the two of them loving each other and expressing that love.

Clawing frantically at E.J.'s chest while kissing him, in one swift motion Sami ripped the shirt from E.J.'s body sending a few buttons flying across the room.

"Wait, hold on," E.J. said pushing her back and allowing the two of them to come up for air.

"What is it?" Sami asked out of breath. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, darling," E.J. said caressing her face with his large right hand and lightly brushing her hair out of her face. "I just don't want to rush this. I want to take our time to make sure we savor every single second of this, Samantha."

With that E.J. put both his hands around her face and gave her a long, soft kiss that made Sami's toes curl. He tenderly slid his hands downward along her neck and to her shoulders, where he gingerly slid his hands beneath her robe and helped guide gravity in removing it from her body.

Next he scooped her up in his arms and carried her onto the four poster bed where beneath the wine-colored drapes the two of them made love for hours.

Finally they stopped when the pleasure receptors in their brains could no longer handle the euphoria the two of them being together created. The two of them just laid in the bed facing one another silently for several minutes, staring at each other in total contentment, until finally Sami spoke.

"Oh, E.J. that was... amazing," Sami said cooing.

"Yeah?" E.J. asked, smiling with his ego swelling so big it filled the entire room, if not the whole house. "Tell me more. How do you feel?"

"E.J., I feel... I don't know how to describe it... it's like... like floating on a sea of endorphins," Sami said while E.J.'s head turned as he tried to place where he'd heard that phrase before. "I mean, even if a lightning bolt fell from the sky right now, you know... I would just die with the biggest smile upon my face."

Sami sighed after saying the words while E.J. involuntarily winced as he contemplated them.

He clutched at his face with his right hand as his mind was flooded with a grainy, incomplete memory of the last time he heard those words. Strangely, they were in his own voice, he thought. He was in a car. A car with... with Samantha, he remembered. And they were talking and Sami was mad at him. Because they had just...

"Oh God, what have I done?" E.J. said after he put the last piece of his puzzling recollection together.

But Sami was too caught up in the afterglow of their lovemaking to hear or acknowledge his words.

"Hey you, come here," Sami said pulling E.J. in for a long slow kiss and then wrapping her arm around his shirtless torso and putting her head down on his glistening chest with a smile spread across her face.

E.J. was motionless as he laid there staring into space holding her and consumed with total anguish and shame with the knowledge of what he'd done. He decided he would let Sami savor this moment of peace without the burden of knowing that he was starting to get his memory back. That he now knew she was telling truth about his memory being erased even if not all his memories had yet returned.

In fact, he wondered if he should tell her at all that he remembered as he ran his fingers through her hair then kissed the crown of her head. He wondered if she would ever let him touch her again once she knew that he knew what had happened. He decided he couldn't take that risk. Not yet.

END OF PART ONE


	11. Chapter 11

PART TWO

We jump ahead several months in the story to find Sami still captive at Maison Blanche and now 8 and a half months pregnant.

Chapter 1

Sami sighed with contentment as she cuddled with E.J. in the Jacobean four poster bed and nestled the crown of her head beneath his chin before then tilting her head back to look up at him.

"Good morning," E.J. said as he leaned in to kiss her forehead and Sami shut her eyes.

Yet when Sami opened her eyes E.J. was gone. She pushed the pillows in her arms away in frustration. It had been another dream. Just like the others.

Slowly and warily she sat up in bed, holding her large stomach with her right hand and tried to wipe the sleep out of her eyes with her left. She couldn't however, wipe away thoughts of E.J. and the passionate night the two of them shared five months earlier and all the lonely nights since.

She still didn't understand it as many hours as she had spent crying over it. After the night they shared, Sami was in ecstasy but E.J. told her the next morning it could never happen again. That he would never make love to her again. She was married and he respected her vows too much to allow her to break them again, he said.

Sami laughed as a tear trickled down her cheek as she thought about it. E.J. never cared about those wedding vows before. She was certain he didn't care about her marriage to Lucas even if he still had no memory of it. She decided E.J. just wasn't interested in her that way any more.

But the strange thing was E.J. hadn't totally shut her out. In fact, in most ways he was more attentive than ever. He held her hand and beamed with pride as if he knew the baby was his when Lexie performed the sonogram in the home's makeshift medical room.

He never stopped spending time with her during those months he continued as her "guard" and they shared childhood stories and read books together and he spent many, many hours trying to teach her how to play chess. He was so patient with her as he attempted to impart basic chess strategy even if he would tease her that the way she played chess was much like the way she lived her life, emotionally and recklessly.

As Sami thought about that playful taunt, she decided it was time to prove E.J. wrong. She had stayed at Maison Blanche long enough hoping that E.J. would remember her and remember his love for her, but if he wasn't going to be there for her completely she needed to develop a rational, calculated scheme to escape so she could get back to Salem. Even if Lucas wouldn't forgive her or understand or support her raising this child, she knew her mother would.

Sami immediately thought of Stefano's diary she had found. Tony had not returned to Maison Blanche in the months since Lucas was there so Sami had not had an opportunity to show him the truth about E.J.'s paternity.

She was also more afraid of revealing the truth to E.J. than ever after getting an up close look at the unbelievably close relationship between Stefano and E.J. that she had witnessed as Stefano's remarkable recovery from the kidney transplant had allowed him to move about the house on his own and spend many hours a day among them, reading books, listening to music and telling stories, even as he waited for her baby's umbilical cord blood to be fully restored to health.

Bart and Rolf would not care about the secrets contained in the book, she thought, and they might even destroy it without Tony ever seeing it if Stefano asked them to. She sighed in frustration.

But just then a strange idea popped in her head. It was risky, but she had exhausted all other options. She would have to go to Lexie with the diary and ask her help in escaping Maison Blanche, she thought.

Sure, her relationship with Lexie was just as icy as ever, but Sami had perceived a growing softness in her heart toward E.J. in the months she watched the two of them get to know each other and work together in caring for Stefano. And if Lexie knew about this diary, she could get in contact with Tony, who would be so furious with his father that he would allow both of them to return to their husbands and children in Salem even if it meant Stefano would die.

Sami excitedly opened the trunk and retrieved the diary and hugged it to her chest and smiled to herself.

"I'm sorry this is going to hurt you, E.J., but I need to do what's best for our baby," Sami said staring into space.

"Just what is going to hurt me, Samantha?" E.J. asked to Sami's surprise.

Chapter 2

"Just what is going to hurt me, Samantha?" E.J. asked to Sami's surprise.

"E.J. I… well…" Sami stammered as she concealed the diary by cradling it in her arms as if she had a chill.

"You what? And something about the baby?" E.J. asked as he set her breakfast tray on a table and then turned around to close the attic door.

Seeing the opening, Sami quickly shoved the diary under the mattress of the bed and pulled the bedspread to cover it before E.J. turned back around.

"E.J., so nice of you to bring me breakfast, again," Sami said, stalling to try to devise a lie to placate him about what he overheard.

"Well, it's getting late, sweetheart," E.J. said, smiling even as he recognized her tactic. "I figured you would be pretty hungry by now. Both of you."

E.J. sighed as he saw Sami touch her large stomach at those words. The past several months had been excruciating for E.J. as he tried to reconcile the past with the present and his divided loyalties between Sami and his family.

E.J. still remembered very little beyond the grainy memory of the night their child was conceived. He didn't want to remember more. He didn't understand how or why some of his memories had been erased, but it did enter his thoughts that it was within the realm of possibility for his father to erase his memories if he thought it was for his son's own good. If he had been the one to cause Sami the pain that led her to try to kill herself burning down the cabin as Rolf had said, he didn't ever want to reclaim those memories. At times over the months since they made love, E.J. would resolve to help Sami escape from this place and ask her to never see him again, but at the same time he couldn't bear the thought of letting Sami go and knew she was the only hope his father had for survival so he would always give up the idea before he acted.

Sami sensed E.J.'s distance so she pounced on the chance to change the subject.

"E.J. I just want to thank you again for getting these new maternity dresses for me," Sami said holding a shopping bag and stepping behind the bathroom curtain to dress. "I only hope I have enough time to wear all of them before the baby is born."

"Oh, those," E.J. said still distant. "Lexie picked them out. She thought you could use something to pick up your spirits a little."

"Well, I'll just have to thank _Lexie_ then," Sami said stepping from behind the curtain, a little miffed.

E.J. sensed her frustration but his mouth dropped when he saw her in the gown sparkling nearly as bright blue as her eyes in the morning light.

"I shall have to thank her, too, Samantha," E.J. said sincerely. "You just glow in that dress, darling. I doubt there's ever been a mother more beautiful than you."

Inside, Sami melted at the words, while E.J. turned his head in embarrassment.

He still loved her. As hard as he tried to stop for her sake, he still wanted her and wanted to be with her. But he didn't think himself worthy of her love at all.

"Anyway, when I came in you were saying something about me?" E.J. said trying to distract himself from his own angst.

"I was?" Sami said pretending not to remember.

"Yes, sweetheart," E.J. said biting his lip. "You were…"

But before E.J. could finish Lexie was at the door.

"E.J., I need to talk you right now," Lexie said sounding concerned and completely ignoring Sami.

"Good morning to you, too, Lexie," Sami said snidely.

Lexie glared while E.J. walked off with his sister.

"Enjoy your breakfast, Samantha," E.J. said before exiting and shutting the door.

Sami let out a sigh of relief that she had dodged this catastrophe and sat down to eat her breakfast.

Then, while buttering her toast she paused to wonder just what would have been so bad had she told E.J. the truth.

"Oh so Stefano would lock me up and prevent me from ever again seeing my loved ones in Salem?" Sami said with a sardonic laugh before the expression on her face became serious. "Or Stefano will just let E.J. get hurt again. Ugh. I have to convince Lexie to help make this right."

Sami slammed the knife down in frustration.

Chapter 3

"Listen, Abraham. I've already told you," Celeste said as she stood inside the doorway of Lexie and Abe's home where she had lived since Lexie's disappearance as she helped Abe raise Theo and nursed Abe through recovery of his latest eye surgery.

"I don't like missing out on it either, but I've got many errands to run today so you and Theo will just have to have a fantastic time at the zoo without me," Celeste said patting Theo on the head.

"Well, all right," Abe said kissing Celeste on the cheek before turning his attention to Theo and heading out. "Guess we'll just have to make the most of guys day out."

"I'm sure you will. Good bye," Celeste said shutting the door behind them and leaning against it sighing with relief that they were finally gone.

Celeste had been dying for a moment like this for months – a moment alone to collect her thoughts. But Celeste had never had that chance between all the hours spent caring for Theo with Lexie gone and then also looking out for Abe during his recent corneal transplant.

Recently she began to suspect that Abe may have mistaken her motherly nurturing for something else. Or even worse, she thought, was that Abe might not be mistaken about why she agreed to spend so much time caring for him. There were all these passing glances between them that turned into stares. Or a friendly touch of the shoulder that lasted a little too long. The night before he had even brought her flowers and cooked her dinner. Abe said it was just to thank her for all she had done to care for him and Theo, but Celeste was so relieved when he had to leave to go on a police call before they opened the bottle of wine he brought.

Celeste knew Lexie was still alive. She felt it in her bones. She just had to find a way to prove that her daughter was alive and bring her back to Salem soon, before she and Abe betrayed her. Celeste sighed again.

Looking out the window, she saw that Abe's car was gone so the coast was clear and she shut the blinds, locked the door and dimmed the lights. Abe had forbid her from practicing her "dark arts" as he called them in his home, because he said they gave him the creeps. Celeste respected that opinion as she knew this dabbling in the occult had many times brought pain for her and her family, but she also knew it was the only hope she had to try to track Lexie down with all the police leads gone cold. She walked over to the closet and retrieved a shopping bag she had stowed away a few weeks earlier for just a moment like this.

Celeste walked over to the table and lit a red candle at its center before she reached in the bag and pulled out a folded piece of purple cloth. As Celeste unwrapped the handkerchief to retrieve her worn and faded tarot cards, she marveled at how she thought she could still catch a light whiff of Stefano's cologne.

She shook her head as she tried to put thoughts of that man out of her mind and grabbed a picture of Lexie out of a desk drawer and laid it in front of the candle and sat down at the table bowing her head and shuffling the cards three times before she spoke.

"Oh spirit world, I come to you in need of an answer about the whereabouts of my daughter, Alexandra," Celeste said. "Has she joined you or does she remain among the living? Please give her mother the peace of knowing."

Celeste turned over the first card to reveal the Queen of Swords, a card Celeste knew did not just represent a woman sitting on a throne holding a sword upright but also the abstract concepts of personal emotional loss and separation.

"This is Lexie. She's alive!" Celeste said excitedly. "Thank you, spirits, for your help, but I have more questions if you have the answers. Tell me, why has my Alexandra not come back to me if she is alive?"

As soon as Celeste said the words she knew her answer instinctively, but still she turned over the next card to confirm it as she looked at The Devil card in front of her.

"Stefano!" she said clenching her fist. Celeste knew he was what the card meant not just because of the evil associated with the devil, but also because she knew the card contained so much paternal energy and represented bondage with the man and woman kept in chains at the devil's feet.

"Oh, I bet Stefano ordered E.J. to kidnap Lexie so she could take care of him," Celeste said. "Damn those Dimeras."

Celeste tried to set aside some of her rage to try to get more information.

"Spirits, please tell me, is my Alexandra alone?" Celeste asked.

The next two cards were stuck together so she overturned them both to reveal The Emperor and The Empress. Celeste tapped her fingers on the table to try to make sense of the cards depicting on their basic level: man and woman, Aries and Taurus, Mars and Venus, a warrior king and a beautiful mother.

"Mother." Celeste said aloud. "Samantha! This must mean Samantha and E.J."

Celeste had heard about the strange disappearance of Sami and E.J. after Sami's honeymoon, but she had just figured that E.J. kidnapped her or the foolish girl had run away with him. Now she wondered if the two of them were with Lexie.

"Thank you spirits, for your patience, but can you tell me what is going to happen? I must know," Celeste said trembling as she turned over the next card.

It was The Tower – the card she feared the most. The picture itself was disturbing enough with the lightning bolt striking the tower causing its crown to pop off, a fire to erupt and showing two men tumbling face first to their deaths. But even more troubling was what the card stood for: forever life-changing chaos and destruction.

Celeste had to find Lexie before her life was ruined or worse, she was killed. But how?

"Spirits, I appreciate all you have done for me, but I need something more – someone to help me make sense of this and help me find my daughter. Who in this world can help me figure out where Lexie is?"

After Celeste finished her question, the candle wick burnt itself out. Celeste knew the spirits had done all they would do to help her as she turned over the next card.

"The Fool?" Celeste scoffed as she looked at the young man depicted treading blissfully unaware that he is about to step off a cliff. "Is this some kind of joke?"

But Celeste knew the card had to have a purpose. She believed the card held the answer to her question. She paused for a moment to try to make sense of it, before a knowing smile wrapped around her face.

"Ah yes," Celeste said getting up to find a phone book to look up the listing for Mythic Communications.

She dialed the phone and put it up to her ear.

"Hi, can I speak with Lucas Roberts please? Tell him this is Celeste. It's important."

Chapter 4

Up in the attic, Sami finished her breakfast and pouted. She walked across the room to take out the diary and as she sensed its power in her hands, she decided she had to take action now. It had been several weeks earlier that during the long, boring hours she spent in the attic that she had figured out how to use an old bobby pin to pry open the lock on the old attic door. Now was the time to put that knowledge into action, before it was too late, she thought.

Sami figured Bart would be posted outside Maison Blanche's front door and that Rolf, Lexie, E.J. and Stefano would all be downstairs. But she had to get down there somehow, either to find an escape or find a way to Lexie. She grabbed one of the luxurious robes that hung in the attic's closet and put it on and stuffed the diary into its large front pocket. Sami headed downstairs slowly but swiftly, at least as swiftly as a pregnant woman could.

Out of sight, but within earshot of E.J. and Lexie, Sami hid in the stairway and listened as they talked.

"So Lexie, are you going to tell me what's going on or not?" E.J. asked as he and Lexie walked down the last steps of the grand staircase and walked into the large front room of the mansion.

"Yes, E.J. I will tell you, but you aren't going to like hearing this," Lexie said with trepidation. "Despite the improved spirits Father has been demonstrating the past several months as he recovered from the kidney transplant, I'm afraid he's not going to make it much longer unless…"

"Unless what?" E.J. asked with concern.

"Well, Rolf says that we need to induce labor now," Lexie said. "He needs that umbilical cord blood now to develop the cure for Father's condition, if he is to live."

"But Samantha is so close to giving birth already. I don't see how it's necessary to risk her life or the life of her child," E.J. said throwing his hands up in disgust.

"It's quite necessary," Rolf said, stepping out of the fireplace passageway to join their conversation.

E.J. glared at Rolf in disbelief while Lexie looked at them with obvious discomfort.

"I'm going to go check on Father," Lexie said disappearing into the fireplace passageway.

"Dammit," Sami whispered to herself as she saw Lexie disappear.

Sami took a few steps up the stairs to head back to her room, but then reconsidered and decided to listen to what Rolf had to say.

"E.J., I understand you and Samantha have become quite close these months she's spent here as the hired surrogate mother to Stefano's child, but this is what she was paid to do and it is time to get that umbilical cord blood," Rolf said. "The child was never going to be hers to raise anyway, so why does it matter if we let her carry it to full term? Now if you don't mind, I need to get up stairs and bring Samantha down to surgery so we can begin the procedure. Tony has sent these orders and I intend to carry them out."

Sami gasped. She ran and hid in a second floor closet while she tried to think of what to do next.

Downstairs, E.J. seethed beneath the surface, but tried to maintain a cool demeanor so he could continue the pretense that he had no idea the child Sami was carrying was his and potentially protect Sami through reasoning with Rolf.

"There's a way to do this without being cruel," E.J. said standing in front of Rolf.

"What is cruel about making a deal and expecting the other party to hold up their end of the bargain after they agree to it?" Rolf asked, sidestepping E.J. and heading up the stairs with E.J. trailing closely behind and pleading with him to reconsider.

Sami heard them slowly walking up the steps and sobbed with fear. She realized that E.J. was powerless to stop what had already been set in motion. Even if he wanted to help her, Rolf was now dead set on getting her child and she would have to find a way out herself.

As they were ascending the flight of stairs up toward the attic, Sami could hear E.J. arguing more and more forcefully against Tony's plans even as she slithered out of the closet and hurried down the grand staircase toward the front door. 

Once there, she looked out the window and to her disappointment, but not her surprise, she saw Bart standing there on the front porch, armed. She knew similar Dimera goons would be posted outside all the exits. She would need some other way out. Someone else to help her get out. She brushed her hand across the pocket of her robe and felt the diary and remembered the secrets it contained. She would have to find Lexie even if it meant she might have to face Stefano, too.

Shaking, she fiddled with the fireplace to open the secret passageway and stepped inside.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 5

Up in the attic, Sami finished her breakfast and pouted. She walked across the room to take out the diary and held its power in her hands, knowing she had to take action now. It had been several weeks earlier that during the long, boring hours she spent in the attic that she had figured out how to use an old bobby pin to pry open the lock on the old attic door. Now was the time to put that knowledge into action, before it was too late, she decided.

Sami figured Bart would be posted outside Maison Blanche's front door and that Rolf, Lexie, E.J. and Stefano would all be downstairs. But she had to get down there somehow, either to find an escape or find a way to Lexie. She grabbed one of the luxurious robes that hung in the attic's closet and stuffed the diary into its large front pocket and headed downstairs slowly but swiftly, at least as slow and swiftly as a pregnant woman could.

Out of sight, but within earshot of E.J. and Lexie, Sami hid in the stairway and listened as they talked.

"So Lexie, are you going to tell me what's going on or not?" E.J. asked as he and Lexie walked down the last steps of the grand staircase and walked into the large front room of the mansion.

"Yes, E.J. I will tell you, but you aren't going to like hearing this," Lexie said with trepidation. "Despite the improved spirits Father has been demonstrating the past several months as he recovered from the kidney transplant, I'm afraid he's not going to make it much longer unless…"

"Unless what?" E.J. asked with concern.

"Well, Rolf says that we need to induce labor now," Lexie said. "He needs that umbilical cord blood now to develop the cure for Father's condition, if he is to live."

"But Samantha is so close to giving birth already. I don't see how it's necessary to risk her life or the life of her child," E.J. said throwing his hands up in disgust.

"It's quite necessary," Rolf said, stepping out of the fireplace passageway to join their conversation.

E.J. glared at Rolf in disbelief while Lexie looked at them with obvious discomfort.

"I'm going to go check on Father," Lexie said disappearing into the fireplace passageway.

"Dammit," Sami whispered to herself as she saw Lexie disappear.

Sami took a few steps up the stairs to head back to her room, but then reconsidered and decided to listen to what Rolf had to say.

"E.J., I understand you and Samantha have become quite close these months she's spent here as the hired surrogate mother to Stefano's child, but this is what she was paid to do and it is time to get that umbilical cord blood," Rolf said. "The child was never going to be hers to raise anyway, so why does it matter if we let her carry it to full term? Now if you don't mind, I need to get up stairs and bring Samantha down to surgery so we can begin the procedure. Tony has sent word of his orders and I intend to carry them out."

Sami gasped. She ran and hid in a second floor closet while she tried to think of what to do next.

Downstairs, E.J. seethed beneath the surface, but tried to maintain a cool demeanor so he could continue the pretense that he had no idea the child Sami was carrying was his and potentially protect Sami through reasoning with Rolf.

"There's a way to do this without being cruel," E.J. said standing in front of Rolf.

"What is cruel about making a deal and expecting the other party to hold up their end of the bargain after they agree to it?" Rolf asked, sidestepping E.J. and heading up the stairs with E.J. trailing closely behind and pleading with him to reconsider.

Sami heard them slowly walking up the steps and sobbed with fear. She realized that E.J. was powerless to stop what had already been set in motion. Even if he wanted to help her, Rolf was now dead set on getting her child and she would have to find a way out herself.

As they were ascending the flight of stairs up toward the attic she could hear E.J. arguing more forcefully against Tony's plans even as she slithered out of the closet and hurried down the grand staircase toward the front door.

Once there, she looked out the window and to her disappointment, but not her surprise she saw Bart standing there on the front porch armed. She knew similar Dimera goons would be posted outside all the exits. She would need some other way out. Someone else to help her get out. She brushed her hand across the pocket of her robe and felt the diary and remembered the secrets it contained. She would have to find Lexie even if it meant she might have to face Stefano, too.

Shaking, she fiddled with the fireplace to open the secret passageway and stepped inside.

Chapter 6

Roman looked at his watch and nervously sipped the glass of water at his table at Chez Rouge. Anna had phoned him to say she was running late, but Roman insisted their lunch date not be cancelled.

He fiddled with his pocket and removed a small box to examine the reason it was so important to him that Anna not miss their date.

As Roman fiddled with the ring, he heard his ex-wife squeal behind him.

"Oh Roman, it's beautiful!" Marlena gasped.

"Well, Doc, I'm glad this gets your seal of approval, but I'm afraid this is for my other blonde ex-wife," Roman said with a teasing grin.

Marlena playfully punched his shoulder and Roman laughed.

"So you found out my big secret. What are you up to?" Roman asked.

"Oh I was just here for lunch with some people from the hospital. But seriously, Roman, Roman, I really am glad for you and Anna finding your way back to each other," she said with a sigh. "Of course, if you hadn't lost your way we'd have never had Eric or Sami…"

Marlena stopped as they both remembered their lost daughter. After they returned to Salem and John awoke from his coma, Roman had wanted to go back to New Orleans to continue the search for Sami but when Lucas returned without her saying he had searched the place top to bottom and there were no clues to be found, everyone took his word for it and just waited and hoped she'd contact them.

"What I mean to say is…" Marlena said attempting to interrupt his melancholy, "I'm just so glad you are getting this happiness in your life. You definitely deserve it."

Roman smiled appreciatively.

"Well, Anna hasn't said yes yet," Roman said sliding the ring box back in his pocket.

Marlena told him not to worry. She'd be crazy to turn him down and gave him a kiss on the cheek just as Anna entered the bar.

"Am I interrupting something?" Anna said smiling at the same time she was shooting Marlena daggers with her eyes.

"No, I think _I_ am interrupting something," Marlena said with a wink at Roman. "So I'll let you two enjoy your lunch. It was nice seeing you both."

Marlena headed toward the ladies room.

"What was that about?" Anna asked, perplexed.

"Well, sit down, first. Here, let me pour you this glass of champagne," Roman said, his arm shaking as he filled their champagne flutes.

"Champagne? For lunch?" Anna said with a sly look on her face. "Not that I'm complaining, but…"

"Well, Anna, you see," Roman said nervously. "I know you and Billie are supposed to leave for Paris Fashion Week tonight and before you left I wanted to celebrate our three-month anniversary with something special."

"Oh but, Roman, I'll only be gone a week…"

"I know, Anna, but it's more than that," Roman said, interrupting her. "These past few months back together again have been some of the greatest months of my entire life. They've made me realize how much I had missed life. How much I had missed love. How much I had missed you, Anna."

"Roman…" Anna said in shock.

"That's why I want to make sure that you stay a part of the rest of my life," Roman said removing the ring box from his pocket, placing it on the table and opening it. "Anna, will you marry me?"

Anna gasped. She was speechless and just covered her mouth with her hand. Roman smiled uncomfortably.

"I take it that's a no?" Roman asked sheepishly.

"No, Roman. I mean… I don't know. That's the honest truth. I just wasn't expecting this at all right now and I need some time to think about what this means," Anna said. "You understand, don't you?"

"Sure, Anna. Take all the time you need," Roman said. "How about this – I leave this ring with you and I'll let you tell me when you get back if you think it looks good on you."

Anna held the ring and stared at it. It was beautiful. Much more stylish and expensive than the engagement ring he gave her for their first wedding and much more than she would have expected on a cop's salary. But she knew her heart still belonged to Tony. Sure, he hadn't called her since she came back to Salem, but she needed to have a talk with him before she could go through with a marriage to Roman.

She looked down at the ring and thought how jealous Tony would be to know that Roman had proposed. That would get him to admit his feelings for her for sure. She would go down to Mythic to see Tony right then.

"Roman, I like that idea very much," Anna said gulping down her champagne in one swig. "Thank you so much for understanding. Now I have so many errands to run before I leave I hope you don't mind me not staying for the rest of lunch. I'll call you."

Anna gave Roman a big kiss and grabbed the ring box on her way out the door in such a hurry she nearly knocked Marlena over as she came around the corner.

"Oh, hi again, Marlena," Anna said in an excited rush. "And bye, Marlena!"

Marlena shook her head and walked over to Roman's table.

"Runaway bride?" Marlena said.

"Not funny, Doc," Roman said with a sigh. "She said she has to THINK about it. And what are you doing here? I thought you left."

"I had, but I needed to stop in the ladies room," Marlena said. "Listen Roman, I'm sorry I made that joke. I had no idea. But I have to tell you, Anna is crazy if she lets a man like you get away."

"Crazy like you?" Roman said in a huff as he threw a wad of cash on the table and walked out.

Chapter 7

Lucas ambled into his office at Mythic Communications disheveled and unshaven and set his briefcase down on a chair when he saw his desk chair seemingly swivel around on its own to face him.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Lucas asked Kate.

"Oh, me? I am here working, trying to keep this company going, pouring my lifeblood into this office so that you and all my children will have a stake in a very successful corporation to inherit one day, but it seems you are not interested enough in that to show up for work until the afternoon?" Kate accused.

"I… well…" Lucas stammered.

"Well nothing," Kate said throwing her hands in the air in frustration and getting out of the chair to walk across the room. "I don't know what to do with you, Lucas. What is there I can do to help you? I mean, you're clearly drinking again."

"What makes you say that?" Lucas said defensively.

"For starters, this is not the first time you've been late to work," Kate said. "Thankfully Tony is too preoccupied with his whole weird DiMera thing to notice, but I am really getting sick of covering for you here."

"Then don't. Stop covering for me," Lucas said. "See if I care."

"Oh, that's really mature, Lucas. There's also the fact that it looks like you haven't shaved in a week," Kate said moving closer to Lucas and putting her hand on his cheek before he pushed it away. "And you're definitely wearing the same suit as yesterday."

Kate leaned in and sniffed.

"Dammit, Lucas! You're drunk right now, aren't you?" Kate screamed.

"I'm not drunk. If you must know, yes, I just had a beer with my lunch," Lucas admitted. "But it's nothing."

"No, it's something. It's you giving up on life. I mean, how can you do this to Will?" Kate asked.

"In case you forgot, Mom, Will is still living with his Uncle Austin and Aunt Carrie in Europe. It's not like I'm going to drink around him when he gets back when school starts again," Lucas said defensively.

"Well then that makes it OK. You're just going to hide your drinking from him and that will keep him from seeing how screwed up his father is," Kate said.

"If I'm screwed up it's because of you, Mom," Lucas said furiously. "If it wasn't for you Sami would still be here. She wouldn't have left. We would be a family and I would be happy with her."

"How is it my fault that little slut couldn't stay faithful to you and ran off with E.J.?" Kate scoffed.

"Don't call the mother of my son a slut, all right?" Lucas said. "I am perfectly aware of what she did without you reminding me every fifteen minutes with your putdowns."

"What am I supposed to call this bitch who ran away with another man on your honeymoon and broke your heart?" Kate said. "I'm sorry, Lucas, but I am not holding my tongue when it comes to that monster. Especially not now when I see how much pain she is still…"

But Kate was interrupted by a knock on the door and a secretary entered.

"We're busy," Kate said glaring.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Roberts, but there's a phone call for Mr. Roberts," the secretary said bowing her head in fear of her demanding boss. "The caller says it's urgent."

"Thank you, Emily," Lucas said smiling. "I will take that call right now. We aren't discussing anything important. You can let yourself out, can't you, Mom?"

Kate huffed as she stormed out of the office while Lucas took a seat at his desk and pressed the blinking red light to see who was on the other end of the line.

"Yes, this is Lucas Roberts… Wait… Celeste?" Lucas said surprised. "Why the hell are you calling me? Hold up… Celeste, you're talking too fast… I don't think… What?!... OK… Fine, you can meet me in the alley outside Mythic in ten minutes."

Chapter 8

Nervously, Sami wandered down the secret corridor in search of Lexie.

Sami thought back to how close she and E.J. had been to escaping months ago as they walked down that same hallway, how despite all the horrible things E.J. had done to her and her family he proved his loyalty to her then and there trying to help her escape and it cost him his memory.

She shuddered as she passed his room where she first learned of his amnesia and remembered the torturous, miserable sounds that taking away those memories had made. But she knew this was her last hope. Her baby's last hope, she thought, as she rubbed her swelled stomach and tried to steel herself to whatever she might find around the corner.

Soon she came upon what she realized was the makeshift medical room. Carefully she tread so as not to wake up Stefano as he slept, on one side of a mesh curtain, in the hospital bed surrounded by Lexie's impressive collection of state-of-the-art medical equipment she had used to restore Stefano to much improved health and monitor Sami's pregnancy.

On the other side of the curtain she saw a cold, stainless steel table, an array of strange science instruments and experiments along with what appeared to her to be crude medieval torture devices. Surely this was Dr. Rolf's domain, she thought. This was where they hurt E.J. She wondered if this would be the side of the curtain she would be on if she gave birth at Maison Blanche and tapped her hand on the table with quiet fear, until a voice behind her caused her to let out a yelp.

"Shhhhhhhh. Sami, what are you screaming for? And what the hell are you doing here?" Lexie whispered.

"Lexie… I… I needed to talk you before you let Rolf induce my labor," Sami said. "I need your help to get out of here. My baby needs your help. And we can help each other!"

"Sami, even if I wanted to help you, which I don't, there's absolutely no way…" Lexie said before Sami interrupted.

"Oh, there is too a way. Right here," Sami said pulling Stefano's diary out of her pocket and showing it to Lexie. "This is our ticket out of here and back to our families in Salem. Once Tony sees this he's not going to lift one finger to help Stefano and we'll be free."

"What are you talking about?" Lexie said skeptically.

"I found this in the attic. It's Stefano's diary. It has all his secrets. All his schemes inside its pages," Sami said excitedly. "And the biggest one involves Tony."

"Sami, just what are you trying to accomplish intruding in an old man's personal business?" Lexie asked.

"But it's business that concerns all of us, Lexie. It concerns your father and Tony and E.J. and my baby," Sami said. "Oh, Lexie, I know you hate me and I don't expect that to change. But if you care at all for E.J., the father of my child, your brother… well sort of your brother… but anyway, if you care for him at all you'll…"

"Sami, how dare you question me about my feelings for my family?" Lexie said.

"I wasn't. I just mean… I just don't want my baby to be born in this awful place. I just want to get out of here. And you can help me Lexie. We can help each other," Sami pleaded. "You just have to call Tony and tell him about this."

"Oh, so you think Tony is going to help you get out of here, Sami?" Sami said. "He hates you even more than I do."

"Well, after you show him the diary he'll hate someone a hell of a lot more than he hates me," Sami said. "He'll hate Stefano for keeping the truth that E.J. is his son a secret from both of them all these years!"

"What?" Lexie gasped and tried to make sense of what she just said. "You're crazy. Sami, this has to be the most ridiculous lie you've ever told. And you've told some big ones."

"It's true," Sami said. "It's all in here. I'm not making this up. Apparently E.J. is Tony and Anna's son. I guess Anna was pregnant with him and thought she had a miscarriage after the boating accident, but Stefano paid off the doctors to lie. He was afraid his grandchild, the heir to the DiMera legacy, would hate him if he was raised by Tony and he couldn't stand the idea of that so he hid him away from everyone all these years so he could groom him to lead the family just the way he wanted. I guess he was raised in London, not that far from Anna actually, which is so sad."

"That's preposterous, Sami," Lexie said. "I mean you've heard E.J. talk about growing up here at Maison Blanche. Are you saying E.J. is just making that stuff up?"

"No, Lexie," Sami said. "I'm saying someone else made up those memories for him. It says in here he was raised in London by some governess Mary Poppins-type woman named Wells. But Stefano gave him these other memories to think he was Elvis Junior when he was ready to send this latest and greatest pawn to work terrorizing Salem."

"So why not just tell E.J. this?" Lexie said. "He has just as much reason to hate my father for this as Tony does."

"Because E.J. doesn't remember," Sami said. "You've seen the way he adores Stefano, thinks he can do no wrong. He won't believe me. And even if he did, Rolf would just zap him again and make him forget everything I told him and I'd be even worse off."

Lexie paused to contemplate what Sami was telling her.

"Is there stuff about me in there?" Lexie said. "Stuff about my mother?"

"Not in this one," Sami said handing her the diary so Lexie could thumb through the pages looking it over. "I mean in that trunk upstairs there's a whole bunch of diaries and letters and pictures and all kinds of stuff about your mom and John and Hope and Steve all of Stefano's victims over the years… but that's not important. What needs to happen right now is you calling Tony and telling him about this so he can call this whole thing off and we can go home. He'll confront Stefano totally outraged and after that my baby's umbilical cord blood and your medical services will no longer be needed because we'll all just leave the monster here to die."

Lexie looked up from the book, slammed it shut and glared.

"Sami, don't forget that _monster_ you are referring to is still my father," Lexie said.

"But after all this, you can't still care about him, can you?" Sami said. "I mean this diary just shows the world would be a much better place if he just died."

"The same can be said for you after all the horrible things you've done to people over the years, so get off your soapbox, Sami," Lexie said clutching the diary with her arms. "I'm not calling Tony. My father's health is too fragile right now to have anything upset him."

"But Lexie… you can't. You can't do this," Sami said reaching out for the diary while Lexie held it just out of her grasp. "I know you hate me. But I never knew the hatred you had for E.J. And Tony?"

"This isn't about my hatred for them," Lexie said. "It's about my love for my father. These past several months I've really gotten to know him. For the first time in our lives, I spent time with him and got to know him as my father. Not just as the great Stefano DiMera, but my dad, who was kept away from me when I was growing up when I could have used a father, even if he had all these flaws and eccentricities."

"Flaws and eccentricities? Pffft." Sami scoffed while Lexie ignored her.

"Sami, if he kept this a secret all these years, I'm sure he had a very good reason and I'm going to do everything I can to help him recover so that if he wants to reveal that secret, he will get that chance," Lexie said.

Sami was speechless. A single tear ran down her cheek as she contemplated her plan's total failure.

"Sorry Sami," Lexie said. "You'll have to look for help elsewhere."

Just then E.J. entered the room.

"Lexie, Rolf said he needs Samantha upstairs to get things ready for the procedure so I'm going to take her back to the attic," E.J. said stoically.

Lexie nodded and walked toward Stefano's bed pulling the curtain around them.

"E.J., you're not going to let them do this are you?" Sami said pounding his chest.

"I'm sorry, Samantha," he said dragging her into the hallway. "Truly sorry."

Defeated and resigned to her fate, Sami didn't even bother struggling as E.J. linked arms with her to escort her out of the room. She didn't cry either. There were no tears left.

But as they walked past his old room toward the fireplace passageway suddenly E.J.'s demeanor changed.

"Don't worry, Samantha. There is no way in hell I'm letting Rolf get his hands on our baby," he whispered.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 9

Lucas walked over to a silver car parked in the alley behind Mythic Communications and put his hands on the glass to try to look inside the tinted passenger window and jumped back startled when the window rolled down.

"Get in the car, Lucas," Celeste commanded from the driver's seat. "Hurry up before someone sees you!"

Lucas shook his head, opened the door and got in the passenger seat.

"So, Celeste, what's so urgent you needed to see me right now," Lucas huffed.

"Well, it's incomplete information, but the spirits tell me that you are the key to me finding my Alexandra

"The spirits tell you I can help you find Lexie? That's why you called me? What a freaking joke," Lucas said rolling his eyes and putting his hand on the door handle. "I'm getting out of here. Maybe you can call up Miss Cleo and get her help unraveling your voodoo mystery."

"So you won't help me find Lexie even if my tarot cards tell me she is alive and with your wife, Samantha?" Celeste said.

"Sami?" Lucas said, as if saying her name caused him physical pain rather than just emotional pain. "But Lexie disappeared so long ago. Long before Sami ran off with E.J."

Celeste surveyed the anguish on his face and knew she couldn't tell Lucas about the entire reading, that Sami and E.J. were together with Lexie. If he knew, he wouldn't help her.

"You really believe that?" Celeste asked. "After all the years Sami had spent fighting for you, trying to win your heart, trying just to get through one wedding ceremony, you think that once she finally got married she was just going to give it up on a whim and throw it all away for some affair?"

"It wasn't just that Celeste," Lucas said. "E.J. is the father of her child. Sami said so in her letter. That's why she had been so secretive all that time."

"Well if she is carrying a DiMera child that would explain why the spirits say it is Stefano who holds her captive," Celeste said.

"Stefano? If that's the case then they could be anywhere," Lucas said. "I mean it's been months since our honeymoon in New Orleans and that night in the mansion when..."

"Did you say New Orleans? Mansion?" Celeste asked as her mind churned. "Of course…"

"Yeah, I know. Pretty ridiculous they sent us to help fix up a mansion that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, right?" Lucas said with a chuckle. "I don't know what that charity was thinking sending us to rehab that spooky old place, but…"

"We have to go there. Now," Celeste said.

"Go where?"

"Maison Blanche."

"Maison what?"

"Maison Blanche. I don't have time to explain that now. There will be time to fill you in on the plane," Celeste said.

"Well, I can't just up and leave… I mean… I just got to work…" Lucas said.

Celeste slid down her sunglasses with her index finger to eye Lucas skeptically and take in his disheveled visage.

"Is that beer I smell on your breath?" Celeste asked. "Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm not drunk. I may have had a beer, one beer, for lunch, but… but… but I think you're the one who's totally plastered if you think your spirits are going to lead us to Sami and Lexie," Lucas said.

"Well, there's only one way to find out if the spirits are telling the truth," Celeste said. "Come on. Let's see if I'm right. If you love Sami, you will fight for her. What do you have to lose if I'm wrong?"

"Nothing," Lucas said flatly. "I have nothing to lose. OK. I'll go with you. We'll go back to the mansion. Just give me an hour."

"I'll be back here in 30 minutes with our plane tickets," Celeste said. "And don't tell Tony where you're going. For all we know he could be mixed up in this."

Chapter 10

Tony sat at his desk at Mythic Communications waiting for the call back from Dr. Rolf about his father's condition and wondered if he was doing the right thing.

He contemplated why he was so loyal to his father even when his family had a hand in costing him the love of every woman he ever cared about… Kristen, Renee… well then he realized that wasn't quite right. He had messed up his relationship with Anna for the most part all on his own.

He pulled a picture frame out of his desk of the two of them in happier times, but when he heard someone coming in his office he quickly shoved it back into the desk drawer.

"Kate, my dear," Tony said flirtatiously, getting out of his desk chair and walking over to Kate to kiss her hand. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Your charm is wasted on me, Tony," Kate said brushing him off. "Not today. Not when I'm sick of holding this company together all by myself and I need you to pay a little bit more attention to Mythic Communications and a little less to whatever strange tasks you're required to perform as a DiMera."

"Well, I'm sorry you feel I haven't been attentive enough as your partner, Kate," Tony said with a knowing smile hinting at all the ways he had been her partner. "But I thought you and Lucas were quite capable of running things day to day. Lucas is helping you run things, isn't he? Because if he's not then he can be easily replaced by…"

Kate sighed.

"Yes, Lucas is helping me just fine," Kate lied. "It's just… just… well I miss spending time with you. You've been so distant lately."

Tony knew it was true. Even as he carried on an affair with Kate, his heart still belonged to Anna. But Anna only wanted to be with Roman, or so he thought. Tony tried to put thoughts of his ex-wife out of his mind and snapped back from his daydreaming.

"Well, I know a way that we could be close again," Tony whispered, pulling Kate in for a long, slow, passionate kiss.

With one seasoned pro swipe of her arm, Kate slid all of the contents of Tony's desk onto the floor. He picked her up and put her on the desk while she began to remove her suit blazer when they were rudely interrupted by someone who failed to see the importance of knocking.

"Mom, I need to speak to you…" Lucas said before stopping when he looked up to see his mother and Tony DiMera about to have sex. "Oh God, can't you guys keep in your pants until after work?"

Lucas turned away as Kate and Tony both strived to smooth out their rumpled suits.

"Can't you learn to knock before entering someone else's office, Lucas?" Tony said huffily.

"I'll be right back, Tony," Kate said while she walked with Lucas out to the hallway with equal embarrassment and exasperation at her son's interruption.

"So just what was so damn important you came barging in there, Lucas?" Kate asked angrily.

"Keep your voice down. I don't want him to hear you," Lucas said.

"Who?" Kate asked.

"Tony," Lucas said.

Kate laughed. Yet Tony did hear them because his ear was pressed against the door.

"Lucas, you are acting ridiculous." Kate said. "Is this a drinking thing?"

"No, Mom. It's not a drinking thing." Lucas said defensively. "It's about Sami."

"Sami?" Kate said rolling her eyes. "Well, then it is a drinking thing except I'm going to be the one in the drunken stupor."

"Could you just save your wise cracks for five seconds so I can explain?" Lucas asked. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be gone for a couple days so I can search for her and I wanted to know if you could cover for me."

"Cover for you? So you can go on some wild bimbo chase?" Kate said. "Lucas, I know you still have a lot of feelings for that heartless wench and I'm sure the alcohol stirs those feelings up, but I don't know what you think you're going to accomplish pretending that she's out there just waiting for you to rescue her."

"I'm not pretending," Lucas insisted. "She could really need me to rescue her."

"Rescue you from whom?" Kate asked dismissively.

"Stefano DiMera." Lucas said flatly.

"Stefano?" Kate scoffed. "Where did you get that idea?"

"It's not important," Lucas said.

"Actually it is important, Lucas," Kate said. "I know your work attendance hasn't been so great lately but in case you haven't noticed, we're in business with the DiMeras."

"Oh, believe me, I've noticed," Lucas sighed. "Look, the truth is, if you must know, I'm going back to New Orleans. I think Sami's there or at least I think I can find some kind of clue of where she is by going back to that old mansion we were at on her honeymoon the night she disappeared."

Tony heard this news and beads of sweat began to form around his neck. All his plans would be ruined if Lucas returned to Maison Blanche. Tony would have to go to New Orleans and stop Lucas from exposing the truth. Unless Kate was able to help him once again and convince Lucas that going to New Orleans was a bad idea.

"But Lucas, you know as well as I do that there's nothing there," Kate said throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "We looked over every nook and cranny of that place and there was nothing. Not one shred of evidence that anything Sami said in her letter about wanting to be with E.J. wasn't true. But… I guess the sooner you realize that the sooner you can move on with your life."

"Damn," Tony whispered to himself. He walked over to the phone to put in a call to get the Mythic jet ready for a flight to New Orleans.

"You're right, Mom," Lucas said. "I do need this to move on with my life. One way or another. Thanks for understanding."

Kate watched as Lucas got in the elevator to head toward New Orleans and kicked the air in frustration about the hold that Sami still held over Lucas's heart. Seeking to forget her frustrations she walked back into Tony's office hoping they could pick up where they left off, but found Tony with her back to her and heard him on the phone lining up a flight to New Orleans on the Mythic jet. Tony slammed down the phone unaware that Kate was listening.

Chapter 10

"Just what business in New Orleans does Mythic have, Tony?" Kate asked to Tony's surprise.

"Oh, hi Lucas," Anna said politely, but uncomfortably as she stepped onto the Mythic elevator and recognized her rather pathetic ex-son-in-law of just a couple of months. "It's so nice to see you."

"Uhhh, hi Anna," Lucas said gruffly as he moved to step off the elevator. "Sorry I don't have much time to talk, but I'm in kind of a hurry."

Anna nodded but when the elevator door closed she shook her head and thought he almost looked and sounded like he'd been drinking. She was so glad her daughter, Carrie, was no longer married to that particular spawn of Kate Roberts.

But she quickly shook away thoughts about him and her children as she opened up the palm of her hand and looked at the large, glittering rock Roman had used to propose marriage at their date at Chez Rouge. It was a beautiful ring, she thought, but before she could agree to start a new life with Roman she had to know whether her old one with Tony was really over.

She walked up to the executive floor and when darted past the receptionist toward Tony's office when she wasn't looking. Not only was Anna too impatient to wait, but a part of her was afraid Tony would tell the receptionist that he didn't want to see Anna and she just wouldn't stand for that.

Anna crept down the hallway and discovered Tony's office door wide open, but when she noticed Kate Roberts was inside and talking to Tony she decided to linger outside the door and listen before making her presence known.

Tony attempted to brush off Kate's queries about his mysterious trip to New Orleans, but to no avail.

"Tony, we're partners," Kate said. "You need to tell me why you're taking the Mythic jet to New Orleans."

"It's not important," Tony said dismissively.

"Like hell it isn't," Kate insisted.

"All right," Tony said. "I'll tell you. I need to get to New Orleans to stop your son. Sami is being held captive there and I need to make sure he doesn't find her."

Anna's heart broke at hearing Tony's cruelty toward Roman's daughter. She quickly headed toward the elevator dialing her cell phone so she could call him and tell him what she found out.

Meanwhile, Kate pressed Tony to explain what was going on.

"Oh, like you care about Sami Brady," Tony said. "You helped me after all. You covered for me when Roman asked how I found you all when I crashed your search party. And Lucas was so close to finding her when he was outside that attic door and you got him to give up on her and walk away."

"I… I… I didn't do anything," Kate said in a fit of conscience. "Lucas made the decision to walk away. I just helped him see that was the right decision."

"Well, you failed to help him make the right decision just now so I need to see to it myself that he never find her," Tony said vaguely.

"What does that mean?" Kate said.

"Nothing," Tony said kissing her cheek. "I'm sorry Kate. But I have to go."

Kate sighed as Tony grabbed his briefcase and headed out of his office. She sat at his desk chair and noticed a picture frame that he had been holding and looking at while he was on the phone. It was of Tony and Anna. Kate threw the picture down on the ground and it shattered.

Chapter 12

Lexie walked over to Stefano sleeping in his hospital bed and grabbed his hand.

To her surprise, Stefano clutched her hand back and opened his eyes.

"I heard you just then, Alexandra," Stefano said. "And I just want you to know that I appreciate all the sacrifices you have made for the family."

"Oh, Father," Lexie said uncomfortably. "You should get your rest and not worry about Sami."

"But I need to tell you something, Alexandra," Stefano insisted. "Something very important."

"Well, what is it?" Lexie asked curiously.

"I need you to know I've decided about my inheritance," Stefano said.

"Oh you shouldn't be worrying about that," Lexie said. "You're not going to die yet. We're going to have you back to normal in no time."

"Maybe so, Alexandra," Stefano said. "But this experience has been quite humbling for me. And it's taught me a lot about my children."

"How so?" Lexie asked.

"It's taught me that you are the only child that I can count on," Stefano said to Lexie's surprise.

"But Father… what do you mean?" Lexie asked. "I haven't always been the most dutiful DiMera."

"No, Alexandra, you haven't," Stefano said. "That's why your loyalty to me now, when I'm most vulnerable, means so much to me. You are willing to protect this family's secrets for my welfare. And that means I can trust you, and only you, to carry on the DiMera legacy."

"Me?" Lexie asked taken aback. "Are you sure you couldn't use some more rest? Maybe I should leave you alone so you can get some shut eye."

Lexie started to walk out but Stefano grabbed her hand.

"I mean this Alexandra," Stefano said. "I've made a decision. I admit I had wanted E.J. to produce this family's heir with Samantha as my ultimate revenge on the Brady family, but I've realized now that it will never work. E.J. will never put this family first, before the woman that he loves, even if we wipe away all memories he has of loving her he will just fall in love with her over again. But you, Alexandra, of your own free will, you demonstrated loyalty to me just now when I have been such a poor father to you. You have cared for me all these months even as you have been kept from your husband and from your son, yet you haven't held that against me. I know I wasn't there for you when you grew up, and even if that was no choice of mine but that of your mother, I still regret that."

"Father, you need to calm down…" Lexie said pushing him back as he tried to sit up the hospital bed before Stefano interrupted her.

"No, I will not calm down," Stefano said. "Until I know that you are willing to accept what I am offering to you, the chance for your son, Theo, to carry on the DiMera family legacy."

"What do you mean?" Lexie asked.

"Just what I said," Stefano explained. "I want Theo to inherit all this family's wealth and all this family's power. That is if his mother is willing to accept it on his behalf."

"Father," Lexie said in shock. "I would be willing to accept whatever gift you wanted to provide Theo but are you sure this is what you really want? I mean what about Tony… and E.J.?"

"Well as you now know from Samantha," Stefano said. "Tony is E.J.'s son. And if Samantha breathes a word of this to either of them, I know I will have lost both of them forever. And I am prepared for that, as long as I can trust that you will teach your son what it means to be a DiMera."

Lexie contemplated what Stefano had told her. She knew that the DiMera name was both a blessing and a curse, but as she contemplated the wealth and power that would be hers and hers alone if she accepted she couldn't resist.

"Well, I just want you to know Father, both Theo and I accept," Lexie said, "whatever it is that you want to leave for us."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13

"E.J., you're not going to let them do this are you?" Sami said pounding his chest.

"I'm sorry, Samantha," he said dragging her into the hallway of the secret passage way of Maison Blanche. "Truly sorry."

Defeated and resigned to her fate, Sami didn't even bother struggling as E.J. linked arms with her to escort her out of the medical room. She didn't cry either. There were no tears left.

But as they walked past his old room toward the fireplace passageway suddenly E.J.'s demeanor changed.

"Don't worry, Samantha. There is no way in hell I'm letting Rolf get his hands on our baby," he whispered.

"What did you say?" Sami asked.

"Shhhh," E.J. whispered in her ear as he gently covered her mouth before they stepped through the passageway.

"Ahhhh E.J.," Rolf said greeting them on the other side and taking a sip from a cup of tea. "It appears you found the missing patient and we can begin the surgery."

"Actually Rolf, I was just back visiting with my father and Lexie and it appears my father changed his mind about the surgery tonight," E.J. lied. "He just wanted to visit with his daughter a little and catch some rest. You are NOT to disturb him."

"But…" Rolf said before E.J. quickly interrupted him.

"Rolf," E.J. said putting his hand on Rolf's shoulder. "Lexie is a doctor. If his condition worsens she will tell us, but until she does why don't you get some rest? You're looking a little worn out yourself."

"Well… I…." Rolf stammered.

"I insist," E.J. said. "I appreciate you caring for my father around the clock, but I worry if you don't get some rest soon you might do the umbilical cord blood transfusion wrong or something. Come on. I can see those eyelids drooping. You deserve a night off."

Rolf eyed him suspiciously but as E.J. smiled a wide open mouth smile Rolf let out a sudden yawn.

"See, I told you," E.J. said pushing Rolf toward the couch and onto it. "Now don't worry about Samantha. I'll keep an eye on her and the baby. She's in good hands with me."

Sami looked back and saw Rolf slump over unconscious as E.J. ushered her up the stairs.

"What'd you do to him?" Sami asked nervously.

"He's just sleeping and will be for a couple hours. Don't worry. I just made him a nice, relaxing cup of tea before I went back and got you," E.J. said smiling.

"From your nanny's recipe?" Sami asked

"No, my pharmacist's," E.J. said. "Come on. We need to get upstairs where we can talk and plan how we're going to get you the hell out of here."

E.J. shut the door of the attic behind them and locked it and Sami nearly suffocated him with her tight embrace.

"E.J., I'm so glad you got your memory back," Sami said pulling back from the hug to look up at him and clutch his face with her right hand. "When did you start to remember everything?"

"Well, Samantha," E.J. said pulling her hand off his face. "The thing is I don't remember everything. I started to remember after the night we spent together…"

"Really?" Sami said excitedly before confusion set in. "But if you've had your memory back since then why have you acted this way?"

"I've acted this way because Samantha I remembered the night our child was conceived and I haven't wanted to try to remember anything else," E.J. said. "I just didn't want to remember hurting you the way I did, the night I… I… I forced you to have sex with me to save Lucas's life… and I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't understand how you couldn't hate me when I've so hated myself."

E.J. went and sat on the bed and sighed and held his face with his hands.

"E.J., I did hate you for a long time," Sami said sitting down next to him and grabbing his hand. "But you've proven to me both before you lost your memory and now that you do care about me and this baby. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense. I can't really understand it either, but I just know that I need you."

Sami stood up and started pacing.

"I also know, E.J., that a lot of the things you did that hurt me were because of your family, just like the things I did that hurt you were because of mine," Sami said.

E.J. stood up behind her and pulled her back into his gaze.

"Whatever you may have done to me, I'm sure I deserved it," E.J. said.

"Well kind of," Sami said laughing.

"And I'm sure whatever it was you did to me, it couldn't have been that bad anyway," E.J. said smiling.

Sami laughed nervously as she remembered standing over E.J. as he was doused in gasoline and she held a lit match.

"The thing is now that I've told you the truth I think I can go to my father and tell him that I've started to get my memory back," E.J. said. "That I now know that he erased my memory to help me forget that night I raped you, but that you've forgiven me so everything is all right now. I can reason with him and we'll just wait until the baby is born and then we'll do the transfusion."

"No," Sami said. "E.J., you can't go to your father. And I'm not letting our baby help him. He's kept us trapped here all these months, me by his DiMera goons, and you trapped by your memory loss so we could be pawns on his chessboard for him to do with what he wishes. What we have to do is find a way to get to Tony."

"Tony?" E.J. scoffed.

"Yes, Tony. Your real father," Sami said.

Chapter 14

Tony walked up to the front door of Maison Blanche to find Bart ostensibly on guard out front but in reality guarding nothing except his private thoughts as he was totally engrossed by the nondescript glossy men's magazine in his hands and the pictures of the Brazilian centerfold inside.

"Bart, doing a bang up job as always I see," Tony said startling Bart.

Bart shoved the magazine behind his chair.

"Sorry boss," Bart said nervously. "I was just…"

"Save your excuses," Tony said tersely as he opened up the front door not giving Bart another look, walked inside and slammed the door shut. "I'm not in the mood."

Tony sighed as he entered, then frowned as he noticed the figure passed out on the couch. He walked over to the couch to find Rolf slumped over and started smacking his face around trying to see if he was conscious. Slowly, Rolf began to lift his head and awaken.

"What is going on here?" Tony said.

"Huh? I don't know what's going on. I'm sorry," Rolf said. "I don't know what came over me. I just needed to take a little nap and I…"

"Where's Sami?" Tony asked.

"Oh, she's upstairs with E.J., sir," Rolf said.

"Good," Tony said. "We need to make sure she stays out of sight because we're going to be having a visitor here very shortly."

"Who is coming?" Rolf asked.

"The half-wit Lucas Roberts is coming for his precious Sami. Finally. I guess after all these months of trying to numb the pain of life without her with booze he decided to try looking for her again because he'd rather endure the pain of life with her sober," Tony said. "We can't let that happen. We have to…"

But a rumbling car engine outside the mansion stopped Tony from finishing.

"Damn. He's already here," Tony said running over to the front door. "Bart, get the hell out of here. And don't let them see you."

"Sure thing, boss," Bart said running away in the direction of some woods behind the mansion.

Tony shut the door and sighed.

"What do you want to do, sir?" Rolf asked.

"Get in the fireplace," Tony said. "We're just going to have to wait this out and hope that Lucas gives up on his search for Sami just as quickly as last time. I hope that worthless brother of mine can keep Sami occupied up in the attic until he leaves."

"What if Lucas finds them?" Rolf asked.

"Then we'll just have to hold him captive, too, until my father's blood transfusion can go through," Tony said. "I'm not going to let anything or anyone stand in the way of my father's health being restored. He's all I have left."

Chapter 15

"Tony?" E.J. said in shock. "My father?"

"Listen, E.J., I am so sorry that I've been keeping a secret from you, too, these months," Sami said. "I found Stefano's diary and I found out that you are Tony's son. I was afraid to tell you before because you didn't have your memory and I didn't know if I could trust you to tell you. I wanted to tell you so many times."

"What exactly did you think you find that you wanted to tell me?" E.J. asked.

"All your memories of life as Elvis Jr. are memories planted their by Stefano so he could use you to get his revenge on all his enemies in Salem and so he could mold you into the perfect DiMera heir," Sami said. "I guess when you were born to Tony and Anna,"

"Anna DiMera is my mother?" E.J. said as his eyes widened.

"Yes, E.J. I guess Stefano and Tony weren't getting along very well back when you were born and Stefano was worried that Tony would keep you, his grandson, away from him and so he came up with this big scheme to tell Tony and Anna that their baby died when Anna was taken to the hospital thinking she miscarried," Sami said.

"That's impossible," E.J. said gasping as he contemplated the fact of having seen the ruthlessness of Stefano DiMera up close, it was possible.

"E.J. I'm so sorry," Sami said hugging him and crying. "I know what it's like to have Stefano keep your parents away from you when you're growing up and I guess that's why I've grown to feel so close to you all these months here."

E.J.'s sorrow turned to rage.

"I'm going to kill him," E.J. said. "I'm going to kill Stefano."

"No, E.J.," Sami said grabbing his hand. "You can't. That won't solve anything. And if you try and fail we could end up killed. We have to find another way. I think if we went to Tony and told him about this he would side with us. Against Stefano. And against Lexie..."

"Against Lexie?" E.J. asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Yeah," Sami said. "Unfortunately she has the diary now."

"You showed Lexie the diary and she still sided with Stefano?" E.J. asked in disbelief. "So nobody in my family loves me, eh?"

"I'm sorry, again, E.J.," Sami said hugging him tightly and then looking up at him. "I love you. And our baby will, too."

"You're amazing," E.J. said sighing and kissing her on the forehead. "You know that? Well, before anybody finds Rolf I guess we should head downstairs so I can call Tony."

But before he let go of her, the attic door swung open.

"Just what the hell is going on here?!" Lucas demanded to know.

Chapter 16

"Doc, you're finally here," Roman said getting out of the booth at the Brady Pub to hug Marlena.

"Yes, Roman, I'm here," Marlena said. "Although I wasn't expecting you to greet me so warmly after you stormed out of Chez Rouge."

"I'm sorry about that," Roman said. "I'm sorry about everything and not explaining myself over the phone…"

"Oh, don't worry about it Roman," Marlena said. "Just tell me what is so urgent that you had to see me again. Did you hear from Anna again?"

"Well, I did get a call from Anna," Roman said. "But not about my proposal. About Sami."

"Sami," Marlena said grabbing Roman's hand as tears filled her eyes.

Just then John cleared his throat as he stood over them and Marlena quickly let go of Roman's hand.

"It took me a while, but I finally found a parking space, Doc," John said as he sat down in the booth next to them. "Hi, Roman."

"Hi, John," Roman said. "I was just telling Marlena about some news we got about Sami's whereabouts. Anna overheard something about Sami when she was outside Tony DiMera's office earlier."

"What the hell was she doing at Tony DiMera's office?" John asked, before Marlena kicked his leg with her heel to let him know that it wasn't a very tactful thing to say. "I mean… what did Anna find out?"

Before Roman could answer Anna walked into the pub.

"Well, it looks like Anna is here so she can tell you herself," Roman said.

"Roman," Anna said kissing him on the cheek and sitting down in the booth next to him. "Hi Marlena and John. It's so nice to see you."

"Yes, it is, Anna, but if you don't mind I'd like it if we could save the pleasantries for a later time and you tell us what you know about where our daughter is," Marlena said.

"Of course. Umm… well… now I only heard bits and pieces, but I was outside Tony's office…" Anna said before self-consciously pausing as she looked at Roman.

"Go on," Roman said nodding.

"Anyway, I heard Tony say that Sami was being held captive in New Orleans," Anna said.

"New Orleans?" Marlena asked.

"Just like Maison Blanche," John said.

"Oh, I can't believe I didn't think of it when we were there before," Marlena said with astonishment. "John, you were in that coma and we were searching for Sami at this old mansion there, but we stopped because Belle called and said you were in trouble so we raced back to see you. I wonder if Sami's been at that place this whole time. Oh, I feel so guilty."

"I'm going to go call my pilot right now and get my jet fired up so we can head to New Orleans," John said as he got out of the booth to make the call.

"It's not your fault, Doc," Roman said comforting Marlena. "If she's there, we'll find her and we'll bring her home."

"Roman, if it's all right, I'd like to go with you and help you search," Anna said.

"But what about fashion week?" Roman asked. "You have that business trip."

"This business is more important," Anna said smiling.

John closed his flipphone shut and informed them that his jet would be ready by the time they got to the airstrip outside of Salem. The group was just about to walk out of the pub when a familiar face stopped them in their tracks.

"If the four of you are headed to New Orleans then I'm coming with you," Kate Roberts said.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 17.

"It sounds like Lucas went upstairs," Tony said as he, Lexie and Rolf huddled inside the fireplace passageway. "We should check on things to see if he's out there."

"I'll go," Lexie said.

Tony eyed her suspiciously.

"Don't worry," Lexie assured him. "I don't want Lucas to find Sami any more than you do."

"All right," Tony said as he and Rolf headed back toward the medical room. "I'm going to go check on Father."

Lexie nodded and walked out into the large front room of the mansion. She walked up a few stairs but didn't hear anything coming from upstairs so she started to walk back toward the fireplace to report back to Tony, when she heard the kitchen door open behind her.

"Alexandra, is it you?" Celeste asked.

"Mom?" Lexie asked turning around to face her with tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"Alexandra, I found you," Celeste said walking over to give Lexie a warm hug. "I knew you were alive. The spirits brought you back to me. And now I need to bring you back home to Salem to be with Abe and Theo."

"Oh, Mom," Lexie said pulling back. "I can't go yet."

"What do you mean?" Celeste asked. "This is the perfect time to escape. My car's out front and no one's around. Let's go."

"No, Mom," Lexie said stopping her mother. "I need to stay here and take care of my father."

"But he had you kidnapped and kept away from your family all these months, didn't he?" Celeste asked incredulously. "How can you have any loyalty to him after all this?"

"It's complicated, Mom," Lexie insisted. "These months have been very interesting for me and I've gotten to know Stefano DiMera, the man, as I've cared for him and seen him vulnerable. He's not just the monster you and everyone else made him out to be."

"No, Alexandra," Celeste said. "Apparently he's worse because he's somehow brainwashed you into feeling so sorry for him that you would leave behind a husband and small child who need you just so you can play nurse maid to some dying old man."

"But don't you see, Mom?" Lexie asked. "I'm doing this for Theo. Father told me that he's leaving everything to Theo when he dies. He wants Theo to inherit the DiMera legacy."

Celeste laughed.

"If Stefano dies – and you know darling that is a very big if when it comes to The Phoenix – if Stefano dies he's leaving nothing behind," Celeste said. "Nothing but pain and sorrow and regret."

But before Lexie could give a rebuttal, Tony and Rolf came out of the fireplace passageway.

"Celeste, darling," Tony said. "What a nice surprise. Did you get a little homesick for the years you spent here as my Father's mistress?"

"I came here for my daughter," Celeste said indignantly.

"And she's leaving without her," Lexie said just as indignantly.

"Well, I'm not so sure that Celeste leaving is a good idea right now," Tony said smiling. "It sounds like Celeste's psychic friend, Lucas, paid a visit to our friends in the attic. I need Rolf and you to head upstairs to keep an eye on them. Meanwhile, I think our father would enjoy the company of your mother if she could stay and visit with him a while."

"But Tony…" Lexie said before Tony interrupted.

"You know it's what Father would want," Tony said as he ushered Celeste into the fireplace passageway and watched as Lexie turned around to walk up the stairs with Rolf toward the attic.

Chapter 18

"Lucas!" Sami said as she saw her husband standing in the open doorway.

"Sami?" Lucas said, his face a snarl of confusion as he saw the embrace E.J. and Sami shared. "What the hell is going on? What the hell did you to do to my wife, huh?"

Lucas rushed to come between them and started pushing E.J. back repeatedly in a display of insecure machismo.

"You wanna go?" Lucas asked. "Let's have this out once and for all."

E.J. chose to let Lucas get out his aggression and did not push him back, much as a dog being pestered by a fly might not care enough to bother to swat his tail at it.

"I thought you might have kidnapped her to keep her away for me, to keep her all to yourself, but you didn't, did you?" Lucas accused. "So arrogant and stupid that you just kept her locked up here in this house. Just like your sick old man kept Sami's mother locked up in Maison Blanche all those years ago. Well I'm not gonna let you do that any more. My wife and I are going back to Salem and you are NEVER going to come between us again."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," E.J. said matter of factly as he winced, not from the force of Lucas's shoves but because of the unpleasant odor that emanated from Lucas's breath as he shouted in E.J.'s face. "Honestly, I have no idea who you even…"

"Oh just stop it with your lies and your mind games," Lucas interrupted. "You made her help you escape the police when they were trying to arrest you for shooting John Black and then you tortured and tormented her all these months that you threatened to say she was your accomplice. You ruined our wedding. You ruined our honeymoon."

Lucas paused for a moment as let the rage in his heart wash over his entire body.

"And that's not to mention how YOU RAPED HER that night when she let you have sex with her just so she could get your help saving my life! Well that's two mistakes too many, buddy, because I'm about to take yours."

It was then that Lucas slammed E.J. against the wall of the attic with such force that a nearby large framed picture of Stefano DiMera came crashing down and shattered splattering shards of glass everywhere.

"Stop it, Lucas!" Sami demanded through her crying.

"No, Sami," Lucas said shouting at her but staring at E.J. "Because this is never going to stop until one of us is dead! And it's not gonna be me!"

Lucas thrust his hands around E.J. in an attempt to choke him, but E.J. was much too strong for him and quickly pulled them off his neck and shoved him backward so he tripped and fell over a bench crashing into a stack of boxes.

E.J. looked over at Sami who was in a crying heap on the floor sitting leaned against the side of the bed with her face buried in her hands. His heart broke. The more he learned about his past the more pain he learned he had caused Sami. In this case, he learned of the way he had doomed her marriage. Fuzzy memories of times that he tormented her began to seep in his consciousness and E.J. was filled with shame for all the things that he didn't even remember well enough to ask for her forgiveness about, yet she had forgiven him anyway. His family had tortured her and her family for decades, he had done many bad things to them himself, and yet Sami still cared enough about him to want to help him.

Sami looked up just then and she and E.J. locked eyes. As if Sami had cast some spell over him pulling him toward her, he ambled toward her with a lone tear streaming down his face mouthing "Samantha, I'm so sorry…"

But before E.J. could get to her Lucas jumped on his back from behind and pushed E.J. down to fall face forward on the ground.

The left side of E.J.'s face was suddenly filled with a strange warm sensation and as he pushed himself up to sit on his knees and wiped the oozing liquid from his temple with his left hand before holding it in front of his eyes. He watched as red streams poured out from between his fingers and across the creases of his palm and groaned as the tiny cuts on his face and arm burned with pain.

Lucas stopped for a moment and turned his head as the sight of blood had always made him somewhat squeamish.

Then Lucas gulped and shut his eyes as he started to make a move at rushing E.J. again for another confrontation but was halted by the sound of someone bursting in the attic door behind them.

"I don't know what is going on up here, but you are all in big, big trouble," Rolf said.

Chapter 19

John emerged from the cockpit to tell the group that he just spoke with his pilot and his jet was finally ready to take off for New Orleans.

John settled in to his seat next to Marlena and put his arm around her as she held her head in her hands and sighed.

"It'll be all right, Doc," John said. "We'll get through this together, just like we always do. Just like we did the last time we went to Maison Blanche."

"Well hopefully we don't have so quite a close call this time," Marlena said wistfully. "I've always hated the fact that we never were able to fully resolve the secrets of your past because the mansion burned down. Not that I wanted to Stefano to rebuild it, of course."

"Of course," John laughed. "I wanted to find out the clues to my past too, but it's just something I'll have to live without ever knowing. If I still worried about that I'd drive myself crazy with the wondering."

Marlena shook her head and looked out the window.

"I just can't believe this whole cycle is happening again with the DiMeras and our family. Poor Sami. She was there right under our noses and we missed her," Marlena said in frustration. "I just can't imagine what it must have been like for Sami there. I mean it was bad enough when Stefano held us prisoner at Maison Blanche, John, but to be locked up and pregnant? I just feel so guilty I didn't…"

"Shhhh, Doc," John said. "Don't blame yourself. You had no idea what was happening."

"No, I didn't. You're right," Marlena said nodding, as her voice changed to an angry whisper. "But Kate did. I can't believe you agreed to let her come with us."

"Doc, Kate told us she knew Tony was up to something, but she didn't know what and I believe her," John said. "After all, she did come to us and tell us about Tony taking off in the Mythic jet for New Orleans."

"Funny how she decides to come forward with this information only now that her child is in danger from the DiMeras," Marlena hissed through gritted teeth.

Meanwhile, Kate was quite nonplussed herself, as she seethed with envy at the other end of the cabin watching Roman look into Anna's eyes with devotion as they held hands in seats nearby.

"Roman, I'm sorry I went to Tony the way I did," Anna said frowning.

"No, Anna, you don't need to apologize," Roman scoffed. "If it wasn't for you doing that we wouldn't be on our way to bring my daughter back home."

"Yes, I know that, and for that I'm glad," Anna hedged. "But what I mean is, I'm sorry that I couldn't accept your proposal right away because I needed to see if I still had feelings for my other ex-husband. That's why I was at Mythic."

"I figured," Roman said nodding. "So what did you find out? Do you still have feelings for Tony?"

Anna thought back to her time with Tony. Their weddings, their fights, their lovemaking, their splits. She knew she would never fully get Tony out of her system. But as she remembered seeing him at Mythic, she also knew that he had chosen a life as an obedient DiMera son over a life as his own man so he was no longer the same person she fell in love with so many years ago. That man no longer existed.

"Roman, I'll be honest with you, for the first time in my life," Anna said with a laugh. "I think I may always have some sort of feeling for Tony… just like you do Marlena. But he's different and I'm different and we're different. And if you'll still have me, I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you."

"I would be honored," Roman said giving her a soft kiss on the lips. "Do you still have that ring I gave you? I don't think we'll have time to stop at the jewelry store in New Orleans."

"Oh yes," Anna said laughing nervously.

She opened her handbag to pull out the ring and watched it sparkle brilliantly. Roman grabbed it from her hand and unbuckled his seatbelt to get down on one knee.

"Well, let's make this official," Roman said with a wink. "I didn't do this right the first time so hopefully if I do it right now I'll get a better answer. Anna, will you marry me?"

Roman held out the ring and Anna smiled and gasped as a single tear dripped down her cheek. She knew she could no longer live in the past.

"Yes, Roman Brady, I will marry you," Anna said. "Again."

They both laughed as he slid the ring on her finger and kissed.

Marlena and John noticed the romantic display and got out of their seats to congratulate their friends. John gave Anna a big hug while Marlena winked at Roman and whispered how happy she was for him.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, Marlena noticed Kate's snarled face shooting daggers at Anna with her cold, jealous stare. But before Kate could notice Marlena, she turned back to face Anna and Roman.

"I don't think I could be happier for the both of you," Marlena said with a wide smile.

Chapter 20

"I don't know what is going on up here, but you are all in big, big trouble," Rolf said.

Rolf stood with a gun drawn and pointed in the direction of Sami and Lucas, while E.J. moved to block his aim at Sami.

"Rolf, I don't think that is necessary," E.J. said walking toward Rolf with his uninjured hand outstretched to block the gun.

"Don't take another step, Elvis," Rolf said as Lexie stepped into the room behind him.

"E.J., what the hell happened here?" Lexie asked as she surveyed the mess of the room and noticed the blood dripping from E.J.'s temple. "Rolf, I do think the gun is a bit much."

Rolf put the gun down and moved back toward the door to stand guard. Sami gingerly walked over toward the bathroom to pick up a towel and placed it against E.J.'s head to help stop the bleeding. E.J. smiled a pained smile in appreciation.

"Lexie?" asked Lucas, who was shocked to see her enter the room. "You're not dead?"

"Thanks for noticing," Lexie said with a laugh.

"Hey, Sami," Lucas yelled remember his reason for coming to Maison Blanche. "What are you doing? That jerk got us locked up here and you're helping him?"

"Lucas, just shut up and calm down for a second," Sami said. "You don't know the truth."

"The truth?" Lexie scoffed as she walked over to examine EJ's wounds and pulled out some bandages and peroxide from a mirrored bathroom cabinet. "As if you know anything about the truth."

"What's she talking about Sami?" Lucas asked with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

"I have no idea," Sami said defensively.

"Lucas, the truth, which Sami kept from you before you married her, is that she is carrying the child of my brother, E.J.," Lexie said as she dressed E.J. wounds.

"It is?" Lucas asked as he looked in the eyes of both E.J. and Sami to confirm it. "But I thought that note was a fake because you didn't run off with E.J. Or did you? Sami?"

Lexie laughed.

"No, Sami didn't run off with E.J.," Lexie said. "She's been here the whole time. She agreed she would give the umbilical cord blood from her pregnancy to save my father, because she so loved E.J. that she was willing to do anything for him."

E.J. stared at Lexie confused as his understanding of how Sami came to Maison Blanche was still hazy.

"That's not true and you know it," Sami said through gritted teeth.

"So you don't love me?" E.J. asked.

"No, I do love you, E.J., but…" Sami said before Lucas exploded.

"You love him? You LOVE him? That son of a bitch RAPED you and you love him?" asked a volcanic Lucas. "Or were you lying about that, too? Damn, Sami, this is unbelievable! Here I come to New Orleans to try and rescue you and this whole time you've been playing house with your rapist so the baby that you had let me think was mine can be the magical cure to save spawn of Satan's father."

Sami started crying hysterically.

"That's not what happened! Lexie is lying!" Sami screamed. "You've just got it all mixed up. Yes, E.J. did rape me but I've fallen in love with him. Maybe I always loved him but I tried to give things another shot with you Lucas for Will's sake, but when I heard the awful things you said about me to your mother and realized the way you had given up on me I…"

"You heard that?" Lucas said with a sigh.

"Yeah, I heard," Sami said sniffling. "And since then being here I've done a lot of thinking about things. And E.J. has really been here for me. He's shown that he truly loves me. And I learned he is just a much a victim of Stefano DiMera as I am."

"Oh, here we go, more Sami Brady lies on the way," Lexie said rolling her eyes in an attempt to discredit Sami's story.

"Him? A victim?" Lucas said sarcastically. "The man who shot John Black, who drove Steve crazy, oh and the one who last time I checked… you claimed RAPED you… although now that I think about it maybe you've been lying the whole time about THAT, too."

"Oh just shut up, you pathetic twerp," E.J. yelled. "You don't know anything about Samantha or me."

"The truth is Lucas that I was taken prisoner here and E.J. tried to help me escape, but they erased his memory to punish him," Sami said. "But then I found out that you didn't love me anymore, or so I thought, and E.J. was so kind to me when I was here that… well anyway… So while I was locked up here all these months I found Stefano's diary that said that E.J. was actually the long lost son of Tony and Anna and so I went to Lexie to try to get her to help me use that information to get free. I thought we could go to Tony and when he found out he would be so mad at Stefano that he wouldn't want my umbilical cord blood to save him, but what I didn't realize is that Lexie hates me so much she was willing to keep that a secret from E.J. and Tony, all so she could protect her sociopathic father."

"What I was protecting my father from was your crazy lies," Lexie said.

E.J. sighed and started pacing.

"E.J., you believe me, right?" Sami said clutching his arm with desperation. "Please tell me you believe me."

But before E.J. could answer, the lights in the mansion suddenly went out.

Chapter 20

"Just what do you think you are going to accomplish by keeping me and my daughter prisoner here, Antony?" Celeste asked angrily as Tony ushered her down the secret passage hallway toward Stefano's bedside.

"Prisoner? Well, I hardly think that's the right term to use for Lexie given that she has decided on her own to stay here, but I suppose that will work for you, Celeste," Tony said sarcastically.

"I just don't understand it," Celeste huffed as they stood outside the curtain that hid Stefano resting in his hospital bed. "I thought for sure the cards meant that Lexie had been kidnapped and forced into taking care of her father."

"And yet your own daughter told you she wanted to stay here of her own free will," Tony said with a laugh. "Well, truth be told, it appears for once your vibrations may be good in that she was originally kidnapped. By E.J. But Lexie came to relish her responsibilities caring for our father – as you well know he can be quite the charming man – and she was especially needed after E.J. had his memory erased…

"You erased your own brother's memory?" Celeste asked in horror.

"Well, actually," Tony said sighing, "That was Rolf's own idea. But for the most part it seems to have worked out quite well."

Celeste made no effort to hide her disgust.

"Oh save me the sanctimony," Tony said. "He was going to sacrifice my father's health and betray the family for that bimbo. Don't you see that? You cared about my father once. Wouldn't you do anything to save him? I know Stefano and I have had our differences, but my father is all I have left. His legacy is all I have left."

"Unbelievable," Celeste said rolling her eyes. "Whatever feelings I may have had for Stefano DiMera in the past are just that, in that past. And you need to put him in your past too if you ever want any happiness for your life. How can one man destroy all that he creates, ruin all that he loves and spawn so much evil and so much greed in everyone he touches? If only you knew what that monster told Lexie about his legacy…"

"Shhhhhh," Tony said interrupting her without listening to what she said. "I think I hear something."

"Your conscience, finally, Antony?" Celeste said.

"Oh be quiet, gypsy," Tony said in panic. "It sounds like a car. Damn. Someone must have followed you here. I can't let anyone find out we're here. That Sami's here."

"And how do you think you're going to accomplish that?" Celeste laughed.

"I'll have to shut off the power so they don't know anyone is here," Tony said walking toward the fuse box to shut off electricity to the entire mansion.

"But your father's machines," Celeste said pointing at the blinking monitors behind the curtain.

Tony laughed.

"I thought your feelings for my father were in the past," Tony said. "Well don't worry, we have a generator for those."

"Silence," Tony said pulling out his cell phone. "Hello, Rolf, this is Tony. I need you and Lexie to keep everyone locked up in that attic and keep them quiet. I think we're going to be having some visitors soon and we can't let them know anyone is in there. But don't let them suspect anything either. We can't have E.J. trying to be the hero again."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 21

Sami screamed as the lights went out and E.J. instinctively clung to her to protect her from the unseen danger.

Lucas raged at the sight.

"Get your damn hands off her!" Lucas yelled as he lunged at E.J. before Rolf yelled at him to be quiet.

"Shut up! All of you! I need to take this call," Rolf said waving the gun around like a mad man.

Sami's face disappeared in E.J.'s chest while they all waited for Rolf to tell them what was going on.

While Rolf was distracted and Lexie huddled around his phone call to see if she could hear what was going on, Lucas took the opportunity to angrily whisper his disgust at Sami for forgiving E.J. and taking comfort in his embrace.

"How can you forgive that bastard after what he did to you?" Lucas judged.

"Just leave her alone, all right," E.J. grumbled, but Sami brushed off E.J.'s protection.

"Thanks E.J. but I think I've got this one," Sami said glaring at Lucas and walking toward him with her arms folded across her chest. "The truth is Lucas I forgave him the same way that I forgave YOU after you tortured me, after you framed me for a murder you committed and after you and your crazy mom tried to KILL me. I did it for my child and for myself because I fell in love. And you don't have to understand that, because I know I don't entirely understand it. But I am not going to let you say anything bad about this man any more. Because I love him." 

Before Lucas could respond, Rolf got off the phone. After a quick whisper in Lexie's ear, he informed them all that there was an electrical malfunction in the house and it wasn't safe to leave the attic until it was fixed.

"Make yourselves comfortable, we are going to be here for a while," Rolf said.

"Samantha, I'm so sorry," E.J. said falling to his knees and holding Sami's waist as he looked up at her face. "For everything. Words can't do justice to what I feel right now. I… I… I don't know how you can even stand to look at me. To be in the same room with me."

"Well, E.J., that's so sweet. But I hate to break it to you, I am no angel myself," Sami said with a smile as she petted the side of his head.

"I find that hard to believe," E.J. said beaming at her. "I mean to have the capacity for compassion that you have. That you would care for me, say you love me after all this."

"Believe it," Lucas snarled as the two of them talked. "She's no angel."

"Don't say that about her," E.J. snarled. "Don't say anything about her."

Lucas laughed walked over to a pile of boxes and kicked them in frustration but was surprised when he stubbed his toe and heard the sound of glass clinking. He opened the box and discovered it contained several bottles of Stefano's prized brandy.

Meanwhile, Lexie began looking through a desk drawer to try and find some matches to light some of the old candles around the room.

"You said we're going to be here for a while, didn't you Rolf?" Lucas said picking up one of the brandy bottles and opening it.

Rolf thought about scolding Lucas, but decided maybe it would help pacify him and keep him quiet while the search went on so he didn't stop him. Lexie and Rolf moved toward the door to discuss it and other matters privately leaving Lucas, Sami and E.J. at the other end of the attic.

"Lucas you're drinking?" Sami squealed as she saw Lucas down a huge gulp straight from the bottle and wife his face with the back of his hand.

"Listen, Sami, if I'm not allowed to say anything about your friend, E.J., then you're not allowed to say anything about my friend, Brandy," Lucas said as he swilled more liquor.

Sami rolled her eyes and turned back to E.J. as her smile turned to a nervous frown. She stepped down to kneel and face him and clasp his hands.

"Lucas IS right," Sami said whispering. "I'm definitely no angel. In fact, I've often been somewhat of a witch."

"Or something that rhymes with that," Lucas volunteered.

"No one asked you!" Sami shouted at Lucas as she turned her attention back to E.J. "Anyway, as I was saying, I have done some pretty bad things to you, too, that I'm not very proud of."

"Like what?" E.J. said trying to appear cool but getting concerned.

"Well, you see, last summer when you came to Salem… right away we hit things off," Sami said.

"Not surprising," E.J. smiled.

Sami nervously chuckled.

"And uhhhh you were a very good friend to me… I mean we spent all this time together and you kept all my secrets and you were just the best friend I've ever had… well sort of a good friend to me…" Sami said as she raced through a confusing explanation of her misdeeds. "I mean you did send me these notes making me think that I was being blackmailed and I needed to tell my fiancé that I had lied about him not being able to have kids with my sister or horrible things would happen to my family, but really you were just trying to get me to tell the truth because you wanted me and Austin to break up so you could date me…"

"OK," E.J. said cautiously as Sami paused for air. "But I don't see how that was YOU hurting ME."

"Well, yes, but after that, you see, we did start dating. And there were always these crazy things that happened to break us up. I mean, my dad and Lucas and Will and Kate… you slept with Kate… I still can't believe that bitch monograms her bras…" Sami said muttering to herself.

"I'm… sorry?" E.J. offered.

"Get to the point, Sami," Lucas yelled.

"Is it that difficult to use an inside voice, Lucas?" Lexie asked as Rolf shook as gun at Lucas for emphasis and they turned their attention back to each other.

Sami glared at Lucas before continuing.

"OK, well, anyway," Sami said, still whispering, and trying to get to the point. "I got mad at you and after we broke up I led you on into thinking I wanted to get back together with you, but really I was just trying to help the police search your apartment."

"You did?" E.J. said.

"Yes. I did. And then when I found out you were a DiMera even though you had just given me this really great job at your company, I had gotten back together with Lucas and I helped lure you to this boathouse where John was shot," Sami told him self-consciously. "You thought you were meeting me to run away together but it was setup."

"I see," E.J. said, his heart sinking.

"Oh that's nothing compared to the other stuff, E.J.!" Lucas said laughing. "Why you leaving out the good stuff, Sami? You haven't known true hell on earth until you've fallen in love with Sami Brady. Wait 'til she gets to the part about the cabin."

"Cabin?" E.J. asked.

"Well you see, the night John was shot, Lucas and I were at this cabin and a beam fell on him and…"

"No, Sami, tell him the OTHER cabin incident," Lucas snickered.

Sami looked at Lucas and then back at E.J. and winced. E.J. mouthed the words "It's OK" back at her and she gave him a half-smile in return.

"Well, even after everything I had done to you and everything that had happened, you still wanted me and you wanted us to raise this baby together," Sami said rubbing her stomach. "And I was with Lucas and I was just so frightened of you and your family that some day you would stop loving me and take my baby away from me forever that first I filled out a fake amnio report saying the baby wasn't yours."

E.J. tried to project indifference to her words but his heart was breaking.

"But you see, you were so smart, you saw right through me," Sami said with a teary smile.

E.J. gave her back a half-hearted smile.

"And I didn't know what to do and Celeste started coming to me with this crazy idea that I should kill you and all my stress and all the drama would stop not just for me, but for this baby. And that all my problems would go away for good… if you did."

"I guess your attempt wasn't successful then," E.J. sighed.

"No, E.J. it wasn't. I couldn't do it," Sami said. "I mean… I did try… I guess. I made you think that the baby was yours and that I wanted to be with you, truly be with you and that we were getting married in Vegas."

"Vegas?" E.J. shook his head and made a face.

"Hey, that was your idea," Sami laughed before the conversation again turned serious. "You wanted me to meet you at this cabin and we would run away together, but Celeste had this plan where I wore this lipstick that when I kissed you it would put you to sleep and we'd douse the place in gasoline and burn you alive."

"Sami, how could you?" E.J. could no longer hide his disgust. "Burned alive?"

Sami paused for a moment to soak in the hurt in E.J.'s eyes as he had called her Sami instead of Samantha.

"But don't you see, E.J.?" Sami said with desperation as she clutched E.J.'s face with her hands and tears streamed down her face. "The thing was I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill you. I loved you too much to kill you."

E.J. laughed.

"Loved me too much not to kill me?" E.J. asked. "Well that's comforting. So tell me, Samantha, this whole time… this whole time that we've been building this…"

E.J. paused for several moments to try to pick the right word for their relationship. He couldn't find it so he settled for another word.

"…friendship… While we've built this friendship that seemed like there could be something more… have your feelings been genuine with me? Or have you just been seducing me to get my help in getting out of this place? Seducing me to get what you wanted… like all those times before."

Chapter 22

"While we've built this friendship that seemed like there could be something more… have your feelings been genuine with me?" E.J. asked. "Or have you just been seducing me to get my help in getting out of this place? Seducing me to get what you wanted… like all those times before."

Sami bit her lip and looked away catching a glimpse of Lucas who was listening to their conversation and judging her with his eyes.

"Oh, don't look at me, Sami," Lucas said. "I want to hear the answer, too. Have you ever really loved either one of us or has it always just been about seducing us to get what you wanted?"

"That's not fair, Lucas," Sami snarled.

"Fair? HA!" Lucas said, pausing to chug more brandy. "Fair like you marrying me and telling me you loved me when you obviously still had feelings for E.J."

Sami hung her head in shame.

E.J. gently lifted her chin with his thumb and index finger.

"Is that true?" E.J. asked. "Is that what happened?"

Sami began pacing as she tried to make sense of all the crazy things that had happened.

"The truth is E.J. that I don't know what happened," Sami said. "I did love you, but Lucas and I had all that history and I wanted to do what was right for my son and I wanted my family to accept me after all the horrible things I had done and… and… and…"

"And what, sweetheart?" E.J. asked.

"And I was afraid," Sami admitted. "All right? I was afraid of what I felt for you. I was afraid of the fact that you could have any woman in the world if you wanted her. I was afraid of your crazy family. And I was afraid of my family and what they would think about me if I was with you after I found out you were a DiMera."

"But were you afraid of me?" E.J. asked.

"No," Sami said meekly. "I guess not. You didn't scare me. I mean I always knew because you had that thing for me that you wouldn't, that you couldn't really do anything to me. But oh there were times you made me hate you. You just wouldn't give up and I hated you for it. And there was the way that you made me hate myself… for wanting you."

"Do you still want me now, Samantha?" E.J. asked. "Because even though it doesn't make any sense and even if I don't understand it and even though you're quite possibly the most maddening and difficult woman I've ever met, I still want you."

Sami smiled as her eyes welled up with tears.

"Yes, E.J.," Sami said whispering and leaning in to face E.J. "I still want you."

E.J. grinned and leaned in for a long, soft kiss that curled Sami's toes, but the amorous display also sent Lucas beyond the edge with jealousy.

Lucas hopped up from his drunken heap on the floor and charged toward E.J. tackling him to the floor. Rolf and Lexie began yelling at the two of them to stop, but every time E.J. pinned Lucas and then released him thinking he had settled down he would lunge at him once again.

"STOP IT!" Sami screamed as she watched the increasingly tense situation unfold with Rolf pulling out a gun and threatening to shoot both E.J. and Lucas if they didn't settle down and be quiet.

Sami grabbed her stomach and collapsed in pain while Lucas, at the sight of the gun, tripped backward knocking over a candelabra and setting the wine-colored plush drapes adorning the Jacobean four-poster bed ablaze.

Chapter 23

"Antony, are you out there?" Stefano said coughing behind the curtain.

"Just a minute, father," Tony said. "I'll be right in."

"Oh, Stefano," Celeste said in a whisper as she felt shivers down her spine. "Listen, Tony. I don't know what you are planning to do to me or Alexandra or Samantha for the sake of your father, but I wish you wouldn't. Don't you know he's betrayed you?"

"Betrayed me?" Tony said with a laugh. "I'm well aware of the differences I've had with my father in the past, but he is still my father. And I am going to prove my loyalty to him by saving his life just like he is going to prove his loyalty to me by handing me the reins of the DiMera dynasty."

Tony grabbed Celeste's arm to drag her with him inside the curtain, but Celeste pushed him back and stopped him from going inside.

"Don't be so sure of that," Celeste said.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked. "What bad news did you forsee for me in your crystal ball, pray tell?

"It is not the spirit world that has told me that you are not going to inherit the DiMera legacy," Celeste said sneering. "It was Alexandra."

But Tony did not hear the last word because of the loud chaotic screams he heard coming from the other part of the mansion. He sniffed the air.

"Do you smell smoke?" Tony asked.

"It's happening," Celeste mumbled to herself as she remembered her tarot prediction before she left for New Orleans and the frightening Tower card the spirits revealed.

"Oh no, not again," Tony said. "The mansion's on fire! C'mon, Celeste, you've got to help me get my father out of here."

"Help Stefano?" Celeste said. "I don't think so."

"Don't do it for him, or for me," Tony implored her. "Do it for your daughter. Do it for your grandson."

Celeste laughed.

"It is for Alexandra and Theo that I hope he dies," Celeste said. "I must go find Alexandra before it's too late."

Celeste ran down the corridor and back toward the fireplace passageway leaving Tony to try to help his father out of the mansion on his own.

"Father, can you get up?" Tony asked as he helped Stefano gingerly stand on his feet and lean against him. "That's good. That's good. We're just going head out the back this way. Nice and easy."

Chapter 24

"STOP IT!" Sami screamed as she watched the increasingly tense situation unfold with Rolf pulling out a gun and threatening to shoot both E.J. and Lucas if they didn't settle down and be quiet.

Sami grabbed her stomach and collapsed in pain while Lucas, at the sight of the gun, tripped backward knocking over a candelabra and setting the wine-colored plush drapes adorning the Jacobean four-poster bed ablaze.

Perhaps without thinking, Lexie quickly switched into doctor mode as she hovered over Sami. But unbeknownst to Lexie, the diary she had carried in her pocket slipped out of her coat and onto the floor.

"Oh God," Lexie whispered to E.J., "She's having the baby!"

"Oh look what you've done, you imbecile," Rolf screamed at Lucas pointing a gun in his face as smoke and little orange flames began crawling across the bed.

"I didn't mean to," Lucas pleaded as tears welled up in his eyes and he turned his back to Rolf to look at the fire. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"Just like I didn't mean for this to happen," Rolf said as he pistol-whipped Lucas in the back of the head knocking him unconscious.

E.J. scooped up a horrified Sami in his arms and began starting to carry her out of the attic and down the stairs with Lexie attending to them nearby.

"Everything will be all right, sweetheart," E.J. said kissing her forehead. "I'm going to see to it that you and our baby are fine. Everything's going to be just…"

But E.J. stopped when he felt the cold steel on the back of his neck.

"Rolf, what are you doing?" E.J. asked flatly as he tried to belie his concern as he stared into Sami's deeply frightened eyes as she looked both at his face and the madman standing over E.J.'s shoulder.

"I'm doing what I should have done in the first place," Rolf said. "I should have killed you the first time you disobeyed orders rather than going along with your father's idea to erase your memory. I told him you can't erase treachery from a person's heart even if you can wipe away the reasons for treacherous behavior by cleaning up the mind."

"Oh, shut up, Rolf," Lexie commanded to Sami's surprise and E.J.'s delight. "Go check on Father or run the hell away. There's nothing to be gained by killing E.J. We all need to get out of here NOW or we're all going to die."

Rolf scowled but slunk away down the steps.

"Thank you, Lexie," E.J. said with a smile.

"Don't thank me," she told him. "Let's go. We should be safe from the fire in the woodcutter's cottage out back. Sami doesn't have much time."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 25

As the smell of smoke filtered down to the bottom floor, the search party that had just arrived wondered if the whole thing had just been a trap set by Stefano and that Sami was not inside the house at all.

"There's a fire!" Roman said as he moved quickly with one arm around Anna while John had an arm around Kate as they all huddled out the front door. "We've got to get out of here."

Marlena began to cry as her worry about the fate of her daughter overrode her instincts to get out of harm's way and she didn't follow them. The worry only grew as she saw a familiar and sinister presence from her past come bounding down the stairs.

"Dr. Rolf?" Marlena said as her face went white.

"Dr. Evans," Rolf nodded. "Sorry I don't have time to chat."

Rolf quickly darted past her and toward the fireplace passageway.

"Where's Sami?" Marlena cried but received no answer as Rolf disappeared through the fireplace.

Marlena wondered if she should follow him but until she realized that along with the smoke coming down the stairs was the sound of other voices.

"Sami, is that you?" Marlena whispered in disbelief.

But as unbelievable as it was, when the cloud of smoke cleared, Marlena was soon reunited with her missing daughter, however it was in the arms of the man she least expected, E.J. Wells.

"E.J., what have you done to her?" Marlena cried as she noticed Sami grabbing her swollen stomach and grimacing as he carried her.

"I haven't done anything," E.J. insisted.

"I find that hard to believe," Marlena said scowling.

"He's telling the truth, Marlena," said a woman stepping out behind them.

"Lexie?" Marlena said with a gasp.

"Yes, it's me," Lexie said. "But we don't have time to talk. Sami's gone into labor."

"Well, is she going to be all right?" Marlena said with grave concern. "Is the baby going to be all right?"

"We'll know when we get back to the cottage," Lexie said moving out of Marlena's way toward the kitchen so they could head out the mansion's back door. "Come on, E.J."

But as Sami passed by her mother, she grabbed her arm.

"Mom, there's something I have to tell you," Sami said wincing.

"Go ahead, I'm listening," Marlena said bending down to her.

"I know I've not always been the best daughter to you and especially to John, so I just want you to know that I found out the secret to his past and I hope that can make up for all the grief I've given you over the years," Sami said.

"Found out the secret?" Marlena asked. "What do you mean?"

"There's a diary upstairs," Sami whispered. "Stefano's diary. It tells all about how he came to be Stefano's pawn."

"Well, I have to get it," Marlena said thinking of the conversation she had with John on the flight to New Orleans and their previous encounter with Maison Blanche that had failed to give John the answers he so wanted to have about his past.

"Wait, Mom," Sami whimpered and then fainted, but before anyone could stop Marlena from bounding up the stairs she disappeared into the smoke.

"We can't let her go up there," E.J. said. "But I can't let Sami stay here either."

But before E.J. could make a decision, the fireplace passageway opened and Lexie's mother emerged.

"Alexandra," she called to Celeste.

"Mom, what are you still doing in here?" Lexie said in shock. "You have to leave."

"I needed to make sure you were all right," Celeste said grabbing Lexie's arm and pulling her toward the front door.

"No, Mom," Lexie said. "I need to help E.J. and Sami with their baby. I'll be all right. But you need to get out of here."

E.J. hurried, as fast as he safely could carrying a pregnant woman, while Lexie trailed behind and they disappeared through the kitchen toward the backyard cottage.

Celeste thought she should be relieved that Lexie and Sami would escape the fire, but her mind flashed back to the Tower tarot card from her reading and she couldn't shake the feeling that this fire would still be taking the lives of two people.

"Doc! Doc, where are you?" John called as he came rushing back in the house before his eyes met Celeste's. "What are you doing in here?"

Celeste was just as surprised to see him.

"John, I think Marlena is upstairs… with Lucas," Celeste said remembering her companion on her Cajun adventure. "But you have to get out of here. This house is not going to be satisfied until it has two souls."

Celeste tugged on his arm to try and get him to leave, but John didn't budge.

"If this house is going to claim two souls and one of them is Doc's then the other one sure as hell is going to be mine," John said as he hurried up the stairs into the thick smoke.

Chapter 26

Kate, Roman and Anna raced out of the front door and into the driveway toward their car, but John trailed behind them, stopping to turn around and look back at the house several times.

"Are you O.K.?" Roman asked Anna once they finally stopped running.

"Yes, I am," Anna said hugging Roman tightly. "But I just hope your daughter is."

Kate cleared her throat, peeved not only at Roman lavishing affections on an ex-wife that wasn't her but also their total lack of concern for her missing child.

"And what about Lucas?" Kate asked as she stared down Anna. "He's missing, too."

"Kate, no need to pick a fight right now," John said trying to play mediator. "We want everyone to be safe but we have no idea that Sami or Lucas were even in that house. I think this may have just been a DiMera trap and we fell right in just like the last time at Maison Blanche when me and Marlena… wait a second. Where's Doc?"

John started running back toward the mansion before anyone could stop him. To their surprise, they saw a figure come out shortly after he entered but it wasn't him.

Celeste saw them and started to run in another direction but Roman called out to her.

"Celeste?!" Roman called. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Celeste came over to them begrudgingly.

"I came for Alexandra, my daughter," Celeste said.

"Well did you come all this way by yourself?" Roman asked.

"No, I came here with Lucas," Celeste admitted.

"Lucas?" Kate said with surprise. "So that's why he got this sudden urge to head back here to look for Sami. Well, where the hell is he?"

Celeste tried to find the right words to say, but her eyes betrayed the fact that he was still in danger in the mansion.

"Where the hell is my son?" Kate said shaking her.

"OK, cool it," Anna said. "Did you and Lucas find Sami in the mansion?"

"Yes," Celeste said.

But before Celeste could explain, Roman darted into the house with the hopes of being his daughter's rescuer.

"Roman, Roman, wait…" Celeste called, but he didn't hear her.

Celeste started to run after him but Kate stopped her.

"You bitch!" Kate said slapping her across the face. "I can't believe you put my son in danger this way."

"Oh save your righteous indignation, Kate. It is not I who put Lucas in danger," Celeste said. "It was your lover, Tony DiMera."

Anna frowned hearing those words while Kate gulped with shame.

Chapter 27

Dr. Rolf came out the side of the mansion confused and disoriented at where his boss had disappeared to when his search of the secret passageway for him had come up empty.

But as he surveyed the yard and looked far in the distance, he noticed what almost looked like two men sitting beneath a tree just inside the forest that lined the grounds of the mansion.

He ran toward them and discovered it was Tony and Stefano.

Stefano was awake, but coughing when Rolf walked up to the two of them. Tony got up from tending to his father and pulled the doctor aside in the hopes they could discuss matters without upsetting Stefano's delicate condition.

"What happened?" Tony asked. "Where is everyone?"

"Well I think everyone is out of the house now," Rolf said. "Oh I guess I did knock Lucas Roberts unconscious and in my way out of there I did pass Celeste running back into the mansion and to my surprise, Marlena Evans, of all people."

Stefano's ears perked up at the mention of the two very different women he once loved in very different ways, perhaps because a part of him still did love them.

"But what about Sami and E.J. and Lexie?" Tony asked, rubbing his face with concern.

"Well once the fire started, it was like Lexie was back in Salem and worried more about what people thought of her than her devotion to this family," Rolf said with contempt. "She told me to look for Stefano while she helped the two of them escape, I guess, just because Sami started going into labor…"

"She went into labor? Now?" Tony said as the reality of the situation hit him and he paused to think of what he'd done. "This isn't good. Tell me, Rolf, how did that fire get started in the first place?"

"It was that pipsqueak, Lucas Roberts," Rolf sighed. "After you turned off the electricity, we lit some candles in the attic and that drunken fool tripped and knocked over some of them starting the bed on fire."

"Why am I not surprised?" Tony said to himself, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Now I think Lexie took Sami back to the woodcutter's cottage," Rolf said, scratching his beard with the end of the barrel of his gun. "Maybe there's still a way I could collect some of that umbilical cord blood for Stefano and…"

"No, Rolf," Tony said, shaking his head. "It's a lost cause. We'll have to find something else for my father…"

Rolf glared as he realized how soft all the DiMera children had become while Tony's voice trailed off and he turned around and noticed Stefano had disappeared. Tony wiped his face as he wondered just where Stefano could have gone. Then he looked back toward the mansion and saw Stefano at the secret door to the house and step back into the burning building.

"Dear God," Tony said. "Rolf, go fetch him and bring him back here to safety. Even if we're not going to be doing the blood transfusion from Sami's pregnancy, we can't have my father dying this way."

"I am a scientist, not a fireman," Rolf said indignantly. "And you have made it clear you do not have any use for my scientific help so I think I will go."

Tony's mouth dropped in shock as he watched Rolf walk into the forest and disappear from sight as twilight began to set in at Maison Blanche.

He started to run toward the house when he thought he heard a woman's voice calling his name and he stopped and turned around.

To his surprise, there were three women running after him. He stopped to let them catch up to him.

"Tony," Anna whispered and shook her head in disappointment as she walked up to him.

"Anna, I…" he started to say, but Tony had no explanation for his behavior, as much as he regretted it as he saw how ugly it made him in Anna's eyes.

"You bastard," Kate said as she slapped him across the face.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Celeste said as she smiled with seething hatred looking at the man who had put her daughter, and his own sister in danger.

"Look, I know you all hate me right now, but I don't have time to listen to your lectures," Tony said. "My father is in there and I have to save him."

But Anna grabbed his arm and stopped him before he went back inside.

"Don't go, Tony," Anna said caressing his face as tears welled up in her eyes. "Marlena is already in there. And John. And Lucas. And Roman. Their lives are all in danger because of your vain attempts to save that sick, old man. And I am not going to let that monster have one more person potentially lose their life because of his evil and manipulation. Especially not when that person is you."

Chapter 28

E.J. carried Sami into the dusty and primitive one-room cottage and laid her on the bed, still unconscious after she fainted.

"Lexie, Samantha's not awake," E.J. said, his voice creaking with fear and panic. "Is she going to die?"

"E.J., you need to stay calm for her," Lexie scolded as she fetched a washcloth from a cabinet and ran it under cold water in the sink. "She is going to need your help to get through this. She's probably just unconscious right now because of the pain, and maybe that's for the best, but you need to do everything you can to distract her from that and all the chaos that's going on around here if you want her and this baby to make it. We need to keep her blood pressure stable."

Lexie handed him a cold washcloth, which he place on her forehead with one hand while the other tenderly caressed the side of her face.

"It's going to be all right, darling," he whispered in her ear and then kissed her cheek.

Sami's eyelashes fluttered and then finally opened. Her eyes locked with E.J.'s eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed looking down at her with a huge smile on his face. She smiled back, until she looked beyond that gorgeous face to see that she was in a strange place she had never been and she was once again hit with painful contractions.

"Where am I, E.J.?" Sami asked. "Where have you taken me? What have you done to me?"

She winced and writhed in the bed and pain and started to sob hysterically.

"It hurts, E.J. I can't breathe. I'm going to die," Sami said gasping for air through her cries. "I think I'm going to die. I cant catch my…"

E.J. gulped with fear but tried to calm the situation.

"O.K. Listen. Shhh. Samantha, hey, look at me. Look at me. I want you to breathe with me. O.K.? Relax. No talking," E.J. said putting his right index finger up to his lips and leaning toward her as she sat up in the bed. "Breathe."

Sami's tears began to dry up as she locked eyes with E.J. once more.

"Deep breaths. Come on. Come on," E.J. said cupping the sides of her face with his large hands as the two of them breathed together and Sami calmed down. "It's O.K. It's O.K. Deep breaths. It's O.K. It's O.K. It's O.K…"

"I couldn't breathe," Sami said as she clung tightly to the inside of E.J.'s arms. "I was so scared. I was so…"

Suddenly, Sami realized this all felt so natural, so strangely familiar, but she couldn't remember why. Nor did she really care as she stared into E.J.'s eyes as he whispered soft and soothing reassurances that everything would be all right and she desperately wanted to believe him. The two of them leaned closer and closer… and closer, until another person's voice startled Sami and broke the magic spell E.J. had cast on her.

"E.J., I don't know where you learned that stuff," Lexie said with a laugh. "But you're really good at this."

"Lexie?!" Sami said with shock.

"Were you hoping for Dr. Rolf presiding over this delivery?" Lexie said sarcastically.

"No. Not at all. It's just… I… you… YOU are going to help ME give birth?" Sami said as another series of panic set in.

"Oh calm down, Sami," Lexie said. "Look, I know we have had our differences, and you know how I feel about you, but I'm not taking that out on this baby. Not on my nephew. Or I guess I should say, MY nephew's child."

"So she was telling the truth about my father… errr… about Stefano?" E.J. whispered to Lexie.

Lexie nodded and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." E.J. nodded back then turned his attention back to Sami.

"I don't know if you remember this or not, Sami, but Lexie helped us get out of the mansion and she has been here this whole time helping me help you get comfortable," E.J. said. "We're both going to make sure that you and this baby get through this."

"Our baby," Sami said touching E.J.'s face, before another contraction set in and she bit her lip. But this time she handled the contraction like a champ squeezing E.J.'s hand and barely letting out any sound at all.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 29

Stefano DiMera emerged from the secret passageway behind the fireplace just as his old nemesis, Roman Brady, entered the front door of Maison Blanche.

"Just where do you think you're going old man," Roman said laughing at the sickly shell of Stefano's former self struggling to will himself across the room.

"Roman, I don't have time for this," Stefano said. "We don't have time for this. Not when Marlena and Celeste are in danger."

"Celeste is fine. I just saw her a minute ago. But as for Marlena, well she wouldn't be in danger if it wasn't for you kidnapping our daughter and holding her prisoner here, you bastard," Roman snarled.

"You think I wanted this?" Stefano asked surveying the devastation befalling the stately mansion.

"Why wouldn't I think that when your whole life has been based around you and all the DiMeras torturing us Bradys?" Roman shot back.

"Maybe so," Stefano said bitterly, "but that will not be my legacy."

"Oh just what legacy do you think a monster like you can leave behind?" Roman said moving to choke Stefano, as the heat from the fire seemed to intensify the rage he felt confronting him.

"The Bradys will finally get their peace from the DiMeras when your dear Samantha agrees to marry my E.J.," Stefano said in speech that was garbled by Roman's stranglehold.

"You think she would marry that bastard spawn of yours? The man who raped her?" Roman yelled as he tightened his grip on Stefano's throat. "Sami will marry a DiMera over my dead body."

Meanwhile, Marlena covered her mouth with the back of her left hand and coughed as she walked up the final steps toward the attic to find the diary at the edge of the room just where Sami had whispered she could find it. Marlena was just about to head back downstairs when she heard what sounded like a person moaning.

She looked closer through the smoke and realized it was a person. It was Lucas.

Marlena set the diary down and hurried over to tend him as he lay writhing on the floor with his eyes still shut.

Suddenly, John appeared at the door yelling at her to get out of the attic, but Marlena explained they were not alone.

"We can't leave Lucas here," Marlena yelled.

Marlena felt after seeing the way EJ cared for Sami in that brief moment downstairs that her daughter was bound to leave this husband for another man just as she had left Sami's father for John, but she knew Sami would still want her to help the father of her son, Will, get out of the fire alive if at all possible.

John leapt into action and smacked Lucas's face to try to bring him to consciousness. The slap worked as Lucas jumped up to his feet yelling for Sami.

"Lucas, Sami is fine," Marlena said. "She's in labor right now, but Lexie and E.J. are tending to her."

"Well, where did they go?" Lucas screamed in a shrill voice.

"Oh I don't know," Marlena said. "I think that old cottage in back maybe. Lucas, it doesn't matter, because we need to get out of this building before it burns to the ground."

"I have to get to her," he insisted as he darted downstairs and out of their sight.

Marlena and John carefully followed him down the stairs until Marlena realized she had left the diary behind. But before John could stop her she was back up the steps barreling into the heat without abandon and grabbing the diary just before a nearby flame could consume it.

"What are you doing?!" John cried. "You could have gotten yourself killed."

"This diary has the secrets to your past, John," Marlena explained. "I wanted you to finally know the truth so you could have peace of mind."

"Marlena, the past could not give me any peace of mind if it means I have to give up a future with you," John said.

Still, Marlena shoved the diary inside her blouse. She accepted John's embrace as he moved to shield her from the smoke by opening his jacket and enveloping her inside.

But just as they began their descent down the stairs the fire and heat finally brought the old mansion to its knees. Marlena and John disappeared with a swift crash into a pile of ash and rubble.

Chapter 30

Even as the pain grew sharper and increased in intensity with every breath, Sami's squinting eyes remained locked with E.J.'s as his calm, inviting face and soothing voice of encouragement offered reassuring warmth despite the frightening prospect she found herself in giving birth before the expected due date and in a strange place. Never did he stop staring at her and smiling almost to the point that it would have made her blush with self-consciousness if her face wasn't already flushed from the ordeal.

Eventually though her concentration would be broken with the faint noise of someone else in the room that she would remember was Lexie and she would hear E.J.'s voice speak to this person in a much more serious tone than when he whispered to her.

Sami didn't know what they were saying, but noticed E.J. turn his head nervously toward the window as they could hear a loud crash. Suddenly, she remembered the smoke and the flames and whispering something about a diary before everything went dark.

"My mother," she whispered as a tear streamed down her cheek.

E.J. impulsively bent down and kissed the tear away.

"She'll be all right," E.J. insisted. "Everything will be all right."

Sami was unconvinced and began panicking, even as E.J. lovingly stroked her hair and resumed attempting to help her breathe. Lexie hovered nearby with ominous warnings she whispered in his ear about Sami's dangerous blood pressure levels and it became more of a struggle to coax Sami to breathe through her sobs. E.J. began to be consumed with worry even as he tried his best to keep up the brave face for Sami.

"Samantha, I know you are worried for your mother and I am, too, my darling," E.J. said. "But right now this baby needs you, HIS mother, to breathe with me so we can bring him into this world."

He paused as his lip quivered with fear that he could lose his family before ever truly having the right to consider them that.

"I need you, Samantha," E.J. sighed.

Sami had never seen E.J. more vulnerable in that moment as she looked up at him and he turned his head and the shadows cast by the moonlight betrayed a single tear streaming down his cheek.

To E.J.'s surprise, Sami reached for his face to pull him toward her and she kissed the tear away just as he had hers before she resumed breathing steadily as the sobs melted away.

But just as Lexie told E.J. it was time for Sami to start pushing, a loud thumping noise could be heard at the door followed by the sound of someone seeming to try to ram into it to break it down.

"Sami! E.J.! Open up! I know you're in there!" a crazed man yelled.

"What in the world?" Lexie asked.

"Lucas," E.J. muttered bitterly.

"Lucas?" Sami asked delirious with pain and not remembering her husband.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," E.J. said kissing her on the forehead. "I'll take care of this and be right back before you know it. In the meantime, just do what Lexie says and you'll be O.K."

Sami writhed in pain, but did as Lexie instructed her pushing as hard as she could at the same time E.J. tended to the door.

Lucas was startled as he lunged toward the door in another attempt to ram it when to his surprise the door flung open at him sending him backward to fall on the ground.

E.J. stepped outside and shut the door behind him and blocked it with his large, though slender frame.

"I need to see Sami! What have you done to her? I need to talk to her, to see she's all right," Lucas yelled in somewhat garbled speech that E.J. thought must have been distorted by his earlier drinking or an excessive amount of smoke inhalation or both.

"That's fine, Lucas, but what Samantha needs and what her baby needs is not some crazed idiot yelling in her face as she is trying to give birth when her blood pressure is already at dangerous levels," E.J. said rationally.

"She's having the baby?" Lucas said stupidly.

"Yes," E.J. said. "And that is stressful enough without you making an appearance at the birth and injecting all of your drama about me and her into this so if you ever cared about Samantha at all I suggest you leave and I promise you that we'll all resolve this like adults after Samantha and the baby are healthy and rested and this whole ordeal is over."

"Oh, I'm gonna resolve this all right," Lucas snickered as he tried to sidestep E.J. and make a run for the door. "Sami! I'm coming for you!"

Before E.J. could think about what he was doing, his right hand clenched into a fist, he bent his elbow back and then swung his forearm forward connecting to Lucas's jaw with a fierce uppercut. Lucas's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground in a heap.

"Why didn't I do this a long time ago?" E.J. laughed to himself as he shook off the tingling in his hand and stepped back inside the cottage.

Chapter 31

"Don't go, Tony," Anna said caressing his face as tears welled up in her eyes. "Marlena is already in there. And John. And Lucas. And Roman. Their lives are all in danger because of your vain attempts to save that sick, old man. And I am not going to let that monster have one more person potentially lose their life because of his evil and manipulation. Especially not when that person could be you."

As Tony looked on Anna's face he was shocked to find no trace of anger or judgment for the horrible things he'd done, but pity. He couldn't understand how she could pity him. At least not until he realized it was because she still loved him, and his eyes too began to well up with tears as he placed his hand over hers.

"Oh, Anna, what have I done?" Tony said as he felt his hardened heart begin to melt as if some spell Stefano had cast over him all these years to keep him wicked and bitter and alone just faded away with one touch from his true love.

"Yes, Tony, what have you done?" Kate screamed, shattering Tony's moment of melancholic reflection and replacing it with shame. "Where the hell is my son?"

"I don't know," Tony said honestly. "He wasn't with me when the fire started. Apparently he was upset about Sami's closeness to E.J. and started drinking and in inebriated clumsiness knocked over some candles igniting the blaze."

Anna raised one eyebrow askew as that bit about the booze seemed to confirm the gossip she had heard about her ex-son-in-law, but said nothing.

"Well what does it matter how the fire started?" Kate shrieked defensively.

"I'm truly sorry, Kate," Tony whispered before bolting toward the mansion.

But just as he was about to reach for the door inside, the building began groaning and seemed to teeter unable to support its own weight.

"Tony look out!" Anna screamed.

While Tony covered his face with his forearm in shock, Anna raced up to him and pulled him back before the flaming debris falling off the collapsing structure could strike them.

The four of them watched the flames rage and then fade until the fire began to burn itself out having consumed practically the entire mansion. While the rubble smoldered, they sat in shocked silence aside from the quiet weeping coming from Kate.

"Lucas is gone," Kate said crying. "My son is dead. Oh why did you have to bring him here, Celeste?"

Celeste frowned. She now realized that her tarot reading anticipating a fool to trigger the tower's destruction would not have come true had she not played a role in bringing Lucas to Maison Blanche. But still, something told her Lucas was not among the dead.

"Kate, I'm sorry, but we don't even know what happened to him," Celeste said. "Maybe he followed Sami out to the woodcutter's cottage."

"You think it's possible?" Kate said sniffling.

Kate removed her high heel pumps and began running across the grounds of the mansion back toward the cottage. Tony, Anna and Celeste followed behind her but at a more leisurely pace as they lacked Kate's optimistic urgency.

Trailing behind her the distance of about a football field they still heard Kate scream loud and clear when she came across the slumping figure in front of the cottage door.

"Lucas, can you hear me?" Kate asked lighting patting his cheek. "Lucas. Are you there?"

Lucas started to rouse from his unconsciousness just as Tony, Anna and Celeste made their way up to the cottage.

"Oh Lucas, you're alive! Thank God!" Kate cried. "Was it the smoke that knocked you unconscious?"

"No… it was… uhhhh… it was a… fist," Lucas groaned as he sat up, rubbing his chin.

Just then a cloud moved from in front of the moon allowing the bright light to show Lucas's face more clearly in the darkness of the night and Kate finally noticed the bruise developing along Lucas's jaw.

"Listen, Tony, I can't take any more of this," Kate turned to him and said furiously. "I want out of Mythic. Now. And if you want to keep me from pressing charges for what your crazy family did to my son or going to the SEC with what I know about your family's creative accounting practices then I suggest you pay double what our shares are worth when you buy out our stock in the company."

"You want me to buy out both of you?" Tony asked.

"Oh so if I left Mythic you were still planning on keeping Lucas as an executive vice president?" Kate scoffed.

Tony looked at the still dazed and confused idiot still rubbing his face and realized while the stock buyout would be extremely costly it would definitely be worth it to no longer have to worry about Lucas's drinking and unprofessional behavior slowing down the company.

"Well, no, I guess not," Tony said with a sigh.

"Then it's settled," Kate insisted. "I'll be in touch with you so you know where you can wire the money. Come on Lucas, we need to get out of here so we can call Billie. The last time I talked to her she said they are opening a New York branch of Countess Wilhelmina soon and I bet she would give it to us to run if we asked."

Lucas nodded, still aloof and in shock at all that had happened that night, but he allowed himself to be escorted by his mother across the grounds and toward Kate's rental car before the two of them left behind Maison Blanche and their lives in Salem for good.

Chapter 32

"I can't do this," Sami whimpered as Lexie implored her to push. "I can't."

"Oh, yes you can," E.J. said, hustling back to Sami's bedside and taking her hand in his. "You're Samantha Gene Brady. There's nothing you can't do."

Sami offered a grimacing smile in response to the flattery and began pushing with all her might.

"That's it," E.J. said, biting his lip as Sami's grip squeezed uncomfortably tight around the hand he had used to knock Lucas unconscious just a few minutes before.

But E.J. knew whatever discomfort he felt was about a million times less than what it must have been for Sami in childbirth.

"You're almost there," Lexie told her.

"You've been saying that for hours," Sami snapped and collapsed back into the bed to rest after another round of contractions passed.

"Well you've been almost there for hours," E.J. quipped with a sly grin on his face that prompted a grin from Sami even though she didn't much feel like grinning. "It'll be all right, darling. When our child is ready to meet us, he'll come."

And so the labor went on until just before dawn, when with one final push Sami's child, a son, and the first Brady-DiMera baby, was born.

The baby let out a spirited cry almost immediately and Lexie cut the umbilical cord and took him away to the sink to be cleaned while E.J. followed the babe with his eyes filled with so much joy he didn't think he could stand it, yet still he remained at Sami's bedside holding her hand.

"It's a boy," Lexie told them. "A happy and healthy boy."

Suddenly, Lexie was no longer at Maison Blanche as her thoughts drifted back to Salem and her own boy, Theo, who she had neglected far too long. But she couldn't think about that as she wrapped the newly clean baby in a towel.

"It's over?" Sami asked, somewhat delirious and completely exhausted.

E.J. laughed.

"No, darling. The fun is just beginning," E.J. said. "But your labor is most certainly over. How are you feeling?"

Sami frowned at first but then her eyes caught Lexie walking toward her carrying the swaddled child, which she then laid in her arms.

"I feel much better now," Sami said staring at the baby and then looking at his father with a smile. "Much, much better."

"Well, I think my work here is done so I'll leave you two alone while I get some fresh air," Lexie said, as she was filled with shame and regret for all the time she had missed being there for Theo as a loving mother back in Salem when all these months she thought it more important to be an obedient daughter and try to secure his legacy as a DiMera in Maison Blanche.

Lexie stifled tears as she opened the door to the cottage and stepped outside.

"So you checked and he has all ten fingers and all ten toes, right?" E.J. said, smiling but eyeing the child impatiently.

"E.J., do you want to hold him?" Sami asked with a weary sigh but a sly chuckle.

"Well, if you insist," E.J. said smiling from ear to ear.

E.J. cradled the child in his arms and then stood up gently rocking him and whispering gentle words of welcome to the world.

"Oh, he's so little. I can't believe how small he is. It's so remarkable," E.J. said turning his attention back to Sami. "Samantha, have you thought of any names for him yet – for our son?"

"Well, I have been trying to think up a good name for our son, and I'm not sure how you feel about this, but I'd like to name him after someone in my family," Sami said.

"Oh, what name were you thinking, sweetheart," E.J. asked nonchalantly.

"I want our son to be named Roman, after my father," Sami said pausing. "And DiMera, after yours."

E.J. said nothing for a moment, but just stared.

"Well, if you think that's the best thing I…" E.J. said before being interrupted.

"Look, this child is a Brady and a DiMera," Sami said flatly. "We can't ignore it. We can't ignore the way that our families have been at each other's throats for decades. But if we want this feud to stop and if we don't want this child to suffer from it the way that both of us have, I think it best we acknowledge it, so that neither family holds the other half of his blood against him."

"You're right, darling," E.J. said to Sami before turning his attention back to the child. "I'm sure you'll find out soon enough, but I just want to be the first to tell you what an amazing mother you have, Mr. Roman DiMera."

Chapter 32

Celeste walked over to the ashes of Maison Blanche and began wandering through smoldering rubble leaving Tony and Anna to sit alone with their backs to the cottage staring at the heap where the stately mansion once stood.

Anna sat with her arms folded, so that the engagement ring on her left ring finger glistened in the moonlight and caught Tony's eye.

"I wish that you wouldn't have pulled me out of the way of the fire," Tony said finally, breaking the heavy silence.

"I wish that the fire had never started in the first place, Tony," Anna said bitterly. "I wish that John and Marlena and Roman were still alive. Even Stefano, too. I wish that you had never become so much like him that this all might happen."

"Contessa, don't you think I wish all that, too?" Tony said, using his favorite pet nickname for his ex-wife.

Tony turned to look at her, yet Anna bashfully turned her head afraid that even in the darkness before the coming dawn he might see the tears dripping down her face.

"Hey," Tony said. "Look at me… as hard as I know it is for you to look at what I've become."

Tony sighed.

"If only we had never been torn apart, my love," Tony said. "I tried so hard to move on, thinking you were so happy in London. I tried to move on with Kristen and when that failed miserably I had no one. No one except Stefano…"

"But Tony I wasn't all that happy in London," Anna said, cutting him off. "I almost came back, once, but I had heard you were with Kristen and so I stayed away and tried so hard to forget you. I had heard from Carrie that you had been involved in some horrible things in Salem but I told her that couldn't be 'my Tony' and so when I heard you were released and that job came up at Countess Wilhelmina I decided to see for myself."

"And you found out I was no longer your Tony," Tony said in exasperation. "I was Stefano's Tony."

"Well what Tony are you now?" Anna asked. "Now that Stefano's gone."

"I'm not sure," he said. "Oh, Anna, I wish things were different. If only our child had lived, things could have been so very different."

"What do you mean, Tony?" Anna said touching her stomach instinctively as she was reminded once again of the grief she had never totally set aside from when a boating accident caused the miscarriage of their child so many years ago.

"Even if I wouldn't have had you all these years, I could have lived for that child instead of my own father," Tony said. "I could have been a better man for him."

But before Anna could respond the two of them were startled by the sound of a baby crying.

"Oh, thank God," Anna sighed with relief. "Her baby made it."

Tony and Anna looked at each other and knew each was thinking of their lost child, even though neither said a word.

Their silent stare was broken, however, when the door pushed open and Lexie stepped outside.

"Whew!" Lexie said wiping her brow. "I didn't think that poor child was ever going to come out. But finally that baby did and not a moment too soon, for Sami's sake and mine."

"Well, how it is it?" Anna asked cheerily. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"It's a boy," Lexie said with a weary sigh. "A healthy and happy boy."

"That's great news, Alexandra," Celeste said with little enthusiasm as she walked toward her daughter.

Lexie looked beyond her mother to see the ash and rubble where Maison Blanche once stood.

"Oh dear," Lexie said hysterically. "The mansion is gone. It was here and now it's gone. All gone. Did everyone get out all right? Did they?"

"I'm sorry, Alexandra," Celeste said. "But Marlena and John and Roman and your father, Stefano, all were consumed by the inferno. I only wish I had given some warning sooner when my tarot told me that something like this would happen, although even the cards said only two souls would die."

And just then the four of them were startled to hear a stirring in the rubble.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 33

The four of them stared at the heap where Maison Blanche once stood after hearing what they thought was rustling from within the smoldering ash, but when the noise stopped they turned back toward each other.

"Oh, I wish I had stopped you when I had the chance," Lexie said bitterly as she pounded on Tony's chest.

"I wish you had, too," Tony said to Lexie's surprise before hugging his grief-stricken sister. "I wish that this night my former friends Marlena and Roman had not died. And my brother, John. And even Stefano himself. But what could you have done to stop this?"

Tony released Lexie from the embrace and began pacing as he put his hand over his chin deep in tortured thought.

"That hold that Stefano had over me," Tony said finally. "That power he had over me… it was just too strong. I know I couldn't have walked away from him. I know it because it was the same for you here taking care of him all these months and abandoning your life in Salem. I couldn't have said no. Not alone with nothing but him in my life."

"Even if you knew the truth about the son he kept from you?" Lexie said crying.

"What son?" Tony asked. "What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Tony," Lexie said. "I should have told you, but I let my hatred for Sami get the best of me. And Stefano played on my greed and pride for Theo, too."

"What does this have to do with my son?" Tony asked, growing impatient.

"What it has to do with your son, the son of both of you," Lexie said turning toward Anna for emphasis, "is that while Sami was kept up in the attic she found a diary – Stefano's diary. And in it he explained how he kept a son from you. Sami wanted me to tell you so that you might release her and let me go, but I was so furious with her and what she had done to me in the past I wanted to see her suffer. And when Stefano heard me he promised…"

"He promised what?" Tony asked, as Lexie was too ashamed to say without further prompting.

"He promised me that Theo would inherit the DiMera legacy," Lexie said sniffling. "My son would be his heir. Not you. Or E.J. Or anyone else. Me. Lexie. The daughter he never acknowledged who was born to the woman who was never his wife would finally get to inherit her birthright as a true DiMera. Finally. It sounded so wonderful at the time the way Stefano described it."

"But this can't be," Tony said. "I can't believe it."

"Believe it," said a weak and gravelly voice behind him.

It was John, who was covered in dark soot, and joined by an equally disheveled and weary looking Marlena. They ambled slowly and gingerly toward the group. Marlena carried a bound book in her hand that she would later tell them she had guarded from the fire with her life.

To Marlena's surprise, Tony greeted her by enveloping her in a warm hug. Just as John was about to express his displeasure at this friendliness from his longtime foe, he too was gripped in the embrace of Anna.

"I'm so glad you made it out alive," Anna said. "We were so worried about you."

"You were worried about us?" John said raising his eyebrow skeptically.

"John, I don't expect you to ever forgive me," Tony said. "I don't think I'll ever forgive myself. But it is true that I am glad that you survived this. And I want you to know, brother, that I will strive to hurt you no more."

"I find that hard to believe," Marlena said coldly.

"Believe it," Lexie said firmly. "For we are all family now."

Chapter 34

Tony stared at his sister confused, but before Lexie could explain Marlena interrupted.

"Oh just because we're family Tony is going to become a model citizen, is he?" Marlena said sarcastically. "Tony once thought he shared parentage of Rex and Cassie with me not to mention how we were once friends, but that didn't stop him from hurting John over his bitterness about Kristen's love for him or hurting me when he made me think I was the Salem serial killer or…"

"Look, I know what I've done," Tony said. "And I can't undo that. I can only tell you that I regret it. All of it. But before you send me back to prison or crucify me or whatever you'd have me do as penance for my sins could you just tell me what the hell you mean when you talk of us all being family?"

Marlena said nothing but handed over the diary to Tony.

"Is this the diary you told me about, Lexie?" Tony asked, hesitating to open it.

Lexie nodded and Tony began leafing through the pages, surprised at how well they held up from the smoke and flame in Marlena's care.

"Oh, just spit it out already," Anna said frantically grabbing the diary from Tony's hands. "What is this about a son of mine and Tony's?"

Lexie sighed.

"The reason I said we're all family now is because E.J. is your son," Lexie said. "And that baby that was just born to Sami and E.J. is your grandchild."

Tony's mouth fell agape in shock while Anna squealed with delight.

"All this time…" Tony mumbled to himself quietly. "I hated him so thinking him my brother. Why I treated him no better than Stefano did me. What he must think of me when he knows."

But while Tony took the news with bittersweet melancholy, Anna was ecstatic.

"You mean I'm a grandmother? Marlena, we're grandmothers together?" Anna shrieked hugging Marlena who began to cry joyfully seeing her old friend's exuberance. "We just have to see this baby this instant. Oh, I have to hold him. I started this day without child and now I not only have a son, but a grandson?!"

Anna and Marlena were just about to open the door to the cottage where Sami and E.J. had been alone inside when John stopped them.

"Wait, Doc, I don't think that's such a good idea," John yelled as he stood in a pile of burnt debris.

"What is it, John?" Marlena asked, but John didn't answer so Marlena, Anna, Tony, Lexie and Celeste walked toward him with their eyes drifting toward the mass upon which John could not help himself from staring.

"Roman," Anna said sniffling, before turning her face away from the dead body of the man who had once been her husband and she had promised would be her husband once more and burying her tear-soaked face in Tony's shoulder.

Tony and Anna walked away from the pile while Tony tried to console Anna, but soon there was another gasp and it was Lexie's turn to cry.

"Stefano!" Marlena said, grimacing as her eyes noticed the charred body below her that she would never have even known was a person at all if not for the Phoenix ring still shining on its flame-kissed fingers.

John embraced Marlena while Lexie sobbed in Celeste's arms.

"How cruel that Stefano would have to take Sami's father from her yet again just when she was given a son," Marlena said bitterly.

"And how cruel that only in death can he finally give E.J. his true father!" Anna cried.

"So this is what the spirits had in mind with this tragedy," Celeste said to herself, for Lexie was too upset to notice her mother's ramblings. "This is the chaos and destruction that fate would have, whether the cards warned me of it or not."

Chapter 35

But inside the sanctuary of the simple cottage, the mood was anything but chaotic or destructive.

In fact, both E.J. and Sami, the troubled, misunderstood and often self-destructive souls that they were found sanity and stability in each other as they looked on the child they created.

The two of them laid in the bed facing each other with little Roman DiMera in his swaddling blanket nestled between them, forever connecting and in some ways completing both of them, whether they realized it then or not.

Despite all the drama and turmoil that waited for them outside the cottage doors and back in Salem, their minds were completely untroubled as they enjoyed the silence save for the soothing sound of Roman's sleeping sighs.

Finally, E.J. broke the quiet to share what was on his mind.

"Samantha, I just want you to know how truly sorry I am for all of this craziness I've brought into your life and all the harm my family has caused you," E.J. said quickly. "I mean, you couldn't even give birth in a hospital because of my family and that's not to mention what I did to you that…"

"Well, E.J., that's fine and good," Sami said interrupting him with a wry smile on her face, "but I have to tell you I'm not sorry, not sorry for any of it that has anything to do with us from being here in this moment together with our son right now."

"But sweetheart, I've done so much to hurt you and I haven't always been there for you or this child," E.J. said sincerely. "I don't think I'm worthy of your love and…"

"E.J., I know you may not remember this talk we had last summer when I was confiding in you about something bad I'd done to someone I thought I loved, but when I think back on it I can't help but think how right you were with what you said," Sami said.

"What'd I say?" E.J. said.

"Well you said something really insightful and beautiful that I don't think I really understood until now," Sami said.

"What was that?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"That true love understands and true love forgives," Sami said with tears welling up in her eyes. "E.J., we've been through so much. We've hurt each other so much. But especially now, being with you and our child, I just need you to know that I truly love you and I truly forgive you just as I hope you do me."

"I do," E.J. said caressing her face.

"Good," Sami said with a smile. "Because know this. Listen to me, E.J. No part of me regrets loving you."

E.J. could not have been happier than he was in that moment.

…………………………………..

The End


End file.
